Soft
by Shashuko the Paisley Maiden
Summary: Why was Mion acting so strangely? If Satoshi didn't know it any better, he'd say there were two of her... he was beginning to wish there was. Satoshion, ongoing. Rated T for limes and gore.
1. Should Have, Could Have

(authornotes)

There needs to be more Satoshion in the world. ...Oh, and I'm screwing around with the flashbacks we see in the first half of Meakashi-hen, just a little. Also, this is sort of full of fluff. So if for some reason you do not like fluff, don't read (but do, there isn't nearly enough fluff in the whole Higurashi fanbase, let alone for these two).

(/authornotes)

_Met a girl, last night_

_Didn't know what to do, didn't know why_

_I could not escape this feeling I had inside..._

When Houjo Satoshi first noticed the change, he had tried to stop some thugs from attacking his friend Sonozaki Mion, who had apparently knocked over the thugs' bikes.

Mion had acted strangely. Satoshi had fully been expecting Mion to yell at him, reminding him she had a tazer a could take care of herself. However, Mion's reaction was quite the opposite. She thanked Satoshi quietly, hiding her mouth behind her hand and blushing slightly.

Satoshi smiled akwwardly, patted Mion on the head and walked off to look for part-time jobs. He wrote off Mion's behaviour as her being scared by the thugs, or just having an off day.

The next week, on the following Monday, Mion was acting strange again. It wasn't by nearly as much, and she seemed very clearly to be Mion, but towards Satoshi, at least, she seemed a little... softer than usual.

Satoshi smiled not-so-awkwardly and patted Mion on the head. Her face colored a little, but Satoshi wrote it off as being embarrassed from being saved.

The next day, Mion acted normally. When Satoshi asked what had been wrong the day before, Mion looked at him like he was crazy.

This started to happen often. Usually, the 'Normal' Mion was at school. Sometimes, however, the other Mion, the 'Softer' Mion went to school. Sometimes, Satoshi wondered if there were two of her.

Suddenly, Mion was the manager of the baseball team. Even on the days when 'Normal' Mion came to school, the Mion who showed up to watch the baseball practices was always the 'Softer' one.

This second Mion, who had only showed up recently, wasn't very different from the first, unless you looked. Usually, it took Satoshi a few minutes of talking to figure out which one it was. 'Softer' Mion was just a little less loud, a little more spacey.

Sometimes, Satoshi caught her staring at him.

He wondered why she only acted differently to him, and nobody else. What was wrong with her those days?

...

While all of this was happening, of course, Satoshi's aunt and uncle continued to get more and more harsh towards Satoko. It was becoming much harder to protect his little sister, and sometimes Satoshi wondered what it would be like to run away. To escape this situation, in which he came home from a hard day of school and basketball to a house full of adults yelling at Satoko.

It would be nice, he thought, to be able to sleep without being disturbed by the noise.

...

One day after practice, Satoshi was rubbing a sore shoulder when somebody tapped him on the back.

He turned around, gasping, but it was only Mion (in her 'softer' form).

She flushed. "Um... Satoshi-kun?"

That was different. Usually, Mion wouldn't use the 'kun'-honorific, even when 'softer.'

Satoshi ignored it as best as he could. Besides, for some reason he didn't mind.... "Yes, Mion?"

"Is your shoulder okay?" Mion looked worried. Caring, even.

"It's a little sore," Satoshi said, wincing when he tried to rub it. "Okay, it's a lot sore... it'll probably be better in the morning..."

Mion smiled . "I could massage it for you..."

"Do you know how?" Nervousness could be detected in Satoshi's tone of voice. If it was just tired, he wouldn't mind letting her try, but even when he touched his shoulder gingerly it hurt.

"I took lessons," Mion replied quietly. "If you sleep on a shoulder _that_ sore, it could be bad."

"... Well," Satoshi said slowly, "If that's true... yeah, I guess you could..."

Mion moved closer and softly put her hands on his shoulders.

"This might be a little sore..." she murmured, "But the discomfort from a massage is far less worse than a pulled muscle."

"Right...."

The fingers on the hands stroked Satoshi's shoulders, slowly adding more pressure. And while his sore shoulder did ache a little, he felt like he was holding in a deep breath, and he could feel his muscles loosening.

When Mion let go of Satoshi's shoulder, Satoshi slumped down on the bench and yawned. He felt... immensely relaxed.

"Is that... better?" Mion asked slowly. "Is your shoulder all right?"

"It's fine," Satoshi realized, poking his shoulder with a finger. "I'm.... fantastic. Who knew you could do that?"

"Don't tell anyone," Mion giggled. "I can't do this for everyone..."

Satoshi looked up at her, and realized that Mion was blushing.

'_Cute...'_

That night, he was able to sleep even though there was noise.

...

"Nii-nii?" Satoko quietly asked one day as they walked to school. "Is Mion-san your girlfriend?"

"G-g-girlfriend?" Satoshi spluttered. "No, she's just... my team's manager..."

"You don't have to lie to me to protect my innocence," Satoko sighed. "I've seen the way you look at her, plus you've been spending half an hour longer than before at baseball practice, getting shoulder, neck and forehead massages from her..."

"Mion isn't my girlfriend!" Satoshi gasped, heat rising to his face.

"But you wish she was." Satoko smirked a little.

"I never said that!" Satoshi protested.

Satoko's smirk grew to the malicious grin that can only be seen on a younger sibling in the process of teasing the older. Satoshi unconciously took a step back.

"Nii-nii's got a giiiiirlfriend," Satoko said in a singsong voice.

Satoshi stopped walked. "She's not my girlfriend, I just finished telling you that!"

Satoko proceeded to wave from side to side, chanting, "Nii-nii's got a girlfriend, Nii-nii's got a girlfriend, Nii-nii's got a girlfriend," over and over and over again. Satoshi realized they might be late to school, so he grabbed her by the hand and all but dragged her the rest of the way.

They did end up being late, but Satoshi didn't mind. That smirk was the closest thing to a true smile he'd seen from Satoko in weeks... but _Mion_, as a girlfriend? Mion was loud, rude and maybe even a bit of a pervert, which was okay as a friend but not something Satoshi saw as a potential girlfriend. The other Mion, though... even though she was loud and rude too, Satoshi always felt better around her, like Mion was carrying part of the huge weight that rested on his mind. Maybe having that part of Mion as a girlfriend wouldn't be so bad, but then he'd also be attached to the first one, who would probably just use her position as "girlfriend" to heighten the level of Satoshi's punishment games.

...

Of course, just because Satoko almost smiled once didn't mean she was getting any better. While Teppei and his wife continued to beat, berate and generally abuse his sister, Satoshi began to plan to go rid of the problem they posed...

Beyond that, at home and on the days when 'normal' Mion was at school, he heard footsteps following him. Whenever he turned around to face the offender, there was no one there. Every day, they seemed louder, more frequent.

He never heard them during or directly after baseball, but he wouldn't be able to go to baseball anymore.

...

"Coach Irie?" Satoshi ventured, walking into the Hinamizawa clinic. "We need to talk."

"Of course," Irie said, pulling Satoshi into the waiting room. "Is this about Satoko-chan?"

Satoshi shrugged. "Sort of... I want to quit the baseball team."

"Why?" Irie asked.

Satoshi explained that he needed to get a part time job, to 'buy a teddy bear for Satoko's birthday'. He asked if he could keep his baseball bat, to 'practice swinging'.

...

Three days later, it was the 'softer' Mion who came to school. She entered as Satoshi and Satoko were putting their shoes into shoe lockers.

"Satoshi... kun?" Mion murmured. "You haven't been coming to practice..."

She seemed genuinely worried. Could this Mion not remember he had told the normal Mion two days ago?

"I already told you," Satoshi sighed. "I quit so I could get a part-time job."

"... Right," Mion said, "I forgot. Later..."

...

That same day, Satoshi got back from the bathroom during lunch to see Mion throwing workbooks at his sister, who was collapsed on the floor and crying helplessly.

... So, the 'softer' Mion wasn't all that soft after all?

Snapping out of his train of thought, Satoshi lunged down to guard his sister from the onslaught of workbooks.

"What did you do to her?!?"

Mion looked strangley shocked. "I thought... for Satoshi... I was teaching her a lesson!"

"She said I'm causing you too much trouble," Satoko whimpered. "Am I, nii-nii?"

"Of course not!" Satoshi said, turning glare at the... other... Mion. "If you ever do anything like this again, Mion, that day marks the end of our friendship."

This made Mion's eyes widen in fear. "I won't do it again!" She promised quickly. "Please stay friends with me!"

Maybe the 'softer' Mion wasn't as soft as he'd thought. _ It was ironic, though, that she had done what she'd done to Satoko with me in mind... maybe this Mion had me as a first priority?_

Satoshi shook his head. _That's rediculous...._

However, this could only help him. Satoshi knew now, he had someone who could watch Satoko for him during the Watanigashi festival.

...

That night, Satoshi called Mion's house and asked to talk to her about what had happened earlier. It was the original Mion that picked up the phone, but she put Satoshi on hold for about three minutes. When Mion picked up again, she was the other Mion.

Were they not the same person? Split personalities, maybe?

"Satoshi-kun, I'm so sorry..." Mion murmured. And it sounded like she really was.

"It's fine," He said. "But, since I have forgiven you..."

"Yes?" There was hope in her voice. Maybe the priority theory wasn't as rediculous as Satoshi had thought? "Is there something I can do to regain your favor?"

"Yes," He said. Satoshi could swear he heard a delighted gasp from her end of the line. This was starting to be somewhat amusing... "I need to you to take Satoko-chan to the Watanigashi festival."

"Eh?" Mion sounded confused. "I can definitely do that, but... shouldn't Satoshi-kun take her?"

"I should," Satoshi sighed, "But I'm going to work through the festival. Doing that will get me twice the pay as usual."

"Ah, okay." Mion sounded disheartened. "Why are you working so hard, anyway?"

Satoshi smiled. "I'm planning on getting a birthday present for Satoko. There's a toy she wanted... but it's expensive."

"Is your work hard?" Mion wondered. "If you wanted, I could still... m-massage..." her voice trailed off, as if she'd just said something she shouldn't have.

The temperature in Satoshi's room seemed to rise. "Ah... I... I'd like that."

"Great." A wide smile could be detected in Mion's voice. "Where--"

Footsteps were heard in the hallway. "I think I hear my aunt returning home, Mion. See you later."

"... Later," Mion said. Satoshi hung up just as his aunt entered the room.

...

Of course, Satoshi wasn't working the night of the Watanigashi festival. He was killing his aunt with his baseball bat.

... Because we all know how that happened, let's not go over it, if only for Satoshi's sake.

...

Satoshi stood in front of the shop window, staring at the teddy bear therein.

He almost had enough. But the store was having a sale the next week. What if someone took the bear first? It was one-of-a-kind, too...

"Is that what you're getting for Satoko-chan?" Mion's voice asked quietly from behind him. "The teddy bear?"

Even by the voice, Satoshi could tell it was the 'other' Mion.

"...Yeah," Satoshi said. "Muu, I'm afraid someone else could buy it first, though..."

Mion giggled. "Come on." She reached out and grabbed Satoshi's hand, pulling him towards the inside of the shop.

_She's holding my hand, _sang a childish voice inside Satoshi's head. For a second, he let this sink in, but then snapped back to reality.

"But I haven't gotten my payday yet!" Satoshi protested. "I don't have the money--"

"Excuse me," Mion said to the store owner, "We'd like to reserve that bear in the window."

Oh, reserve. Right. Why hadn't Satoshi thought of that? He blamed Mion for not deciding what her personality was and therefor being both confusing and distracting.

"Are you sure?" the owner asked, looking at Satoshi. "It's quite expensive."

"I know," Satoshi said slowly. "... I should have just enough."

...

"Satoshi-kun, you're such and airhead," Mion giggled. "When normal people see something they want, they put it on reserve."

Satoshi flushed from embarassment. "I suppose you're right. It didn't even occur to me..."

"And that's why I'm here," Mion said. "Because you're kind of spacey, and always looking out for Satoko. Someone... someone should look out for Satoshi-kun."

Mion widened her eyes as if realizing something and turned her head away quickly.

Her tactic didn't work. Satoshi saw that she was blushing.

Mion slowly let go of Satoshi's hand, which she hadn't let go of since gripping earlier. Satoshi felt his hand suddenly grow cold and heavy as it dropped to his side.

"Mion?" Satoshi ventured. "Why is it you act like this consistenly some days at school and always at Baseball, but some days at school you're your usual self?"

"I..." Mion turned towards Satoshi, a regretful expression on her face. "There's.. there's nothing wrong with me! Ahahaha! Satoshi-kun, always spacing out like that and thinking weird things... be careful or Rena will kidnap you."

"Mion, I think we both know that's not what you were going to say," Satoshi sighed. "Also, by saying Rena will kidnap me implies that you think I'm cute..."

Mion blushed again, and opened her mouth to say something, but Satoshi kept talking so he could make his point.

"...And something is definitely going on here that I don't know about. The normal Sonozaki Mion never refers to me with the '-kun' honorific, never blushes when I talk to her and never, if she worries, talks to me about it. What's going on?"

Mion's head hung low. "I'm sorry, Satoshi-kun... I didn't mean for you to figure it out. Truthfully, I'm--"

"Houjo Satoshi. Do you mind if we had a little chat?"

It was Ooishi, the Chief of Police. He had two other policemen with him, who surrounded the two teenagers quickly.

Mion stepped closer to Satoshi and whispered, "Do you have an alibi for the night of the festival?"

So Mion knew. Or, at least, this Mion knew. But... she was letting Satoshi get away with it? Why?

_Someone... someone should look out for Satoshi-kun._

Satoshi discreetly shook his head, he didn't have an alibi and Mion clearly had an idea.

"He was with me," Mion said, "At a family restaurant. The Cafe Angel Morte."

"Ha! Nice try," Ooishi said darkly. "Sonozaki Mion. You were seen at the festival escorting his little sister."

"But I'm _not _Sonozaki Mion," Mion, who apparently was not Mion at all, announced. "I'm Sonozaki _Shion_. Her younger twin sister."

_... What?_

Ooishi raised an eyebrow. "You seriously expect me to believe that."

"You can check with my older sister if you don't believe me. Will you? If we stand side by side?"

_Identical twins... that explains a lot,_ Satoshi thought. _So Shion is the other Mion._

"... We'll have to check on that," Ooishi said slowly. "Stay here, you two."

The policemen stepped a few yards away for a whispered conference.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you," Shion murmured. "Please don't be angry with me..."

Satoshi smiled, and laughed good-naturedly. "I'm not! If anything, this explains why Mion's been acting so strange. There were times when Mion acted like she was somebody else altogether, times when Mion and I didn't get along quite the same as we used to."

Shion nodded.

"... I guess I shouldn't say, 'nice to meet you,' huh?" Satoshi said.

"Ummm..." Shion frowned. "I suppose not."

"... But why would a restaurant owned by the Sonozaki family be open during Watanigashi?" Satoshi asked.

"It wasn't," Shion said. "Obviously, I was asked to watch the building during the festival. I asked you to watch with me because that place gets a little creepy at night."

"Two teenagers alone in a building..." Satoshi frowned. "Isn't that a little..."

"I-- I didn't mean it that way when I asked!" Shion gasped, her face gaining the hue of a ripe tomato. "I... didn't want to be by myself..."

"It's all right," Satoshi said. "That place _is _pretty creepy after dark. I can see why you asked me to stay with you."

He winked, and Shion smiled.

"I have never had so much fun restaurant-sitting," Satoshi elaborated.

"All we did was talk and watch _The Brady Bunch_," Shion giggled.

"Yes..." Satoshi said slowly, "Until the show ended and I turned the television off..."

Shion looked nervous. "What happened then?"

"I asked you _why _you've been masquerading as your sister." Satoshi's voice gained a stern tone, and he frowned a little. "It really confused me until I found out... I thought it was split personalities or something."

"Oh." Shion turned her gaze downward. "And I _told_ you... I ran away from the boarding school the Sonozaki family shipped me off to."

Satoshi nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "And that made sense, but I still didn't understand why only Shion managed the baseball team. And why Shion's disguise as Mion was only different in the way she look at me."

Shion blushed again. "Th... that's because I... well, as I said then, I..."

She struggled and tried to open her mouth a few times, but no words came out. Her blush intensified every time she tried to say whatever it was she had 'said yesterday'.

Of course, this only made Satoshi more curious.

"Yes, Shion? What did you say?"

Shion stuttered unintelligibly.

"If it's embarassing..." Satoshi stepped towards Shion so that less than half a foot lay between them. "... You can whisper."

Shion was shaking now, as she leaned over to put her mouth by Satoshi's ear, close enough for him to feel her breath. Satoshi found the blood rushing to his face.

"W-well? What was it?" If it was this important, such a secret, Satoshi needed to know.

"B-because..."

Shion shut her eyes, gulped, took a huge breath, and finally spoke.

"I ... love... you."

Satoshi froze. "Love..."

"Yes," Shion sighed, still whispering in Satoshi's ear. "...Since the day we met. I was attacked--"

"-- By some thugs," Satoshi finished. "That was the first time I'd thought Mion was acting strangely. I guess... I could tell you apart from the beginning?"

"In a way," Shion said. "... How could you tell?"

Satoshi suddenly felt somewhat akward. "Shion is the one looks at me differently, Shion is the one who manages the baseball team... Shion is the one who gives me shoulder massages, Shion is the one who makes me forget my problems, Shion is the one who I'm starting to realize goes out of her way for me... but all of those things are because you love me, I think. So I suppose... I can tell Shion apart from Mion because Shion loves me?"

Shion's eyes widened, and she blushed for what must have been the hundredth time that day. "Satoshi-kun, yesterday... when-- when I said... you know..."

"Yes, Shion?"

"W-what was it again, Satoshi-kun's response to that?"

"I was a little surprised," Satoshi turned his head to whisper, "So I froze for a second..."

"... And then?" Satoshi could feel heat radiating off of Shion like cookies just taken out of the oven. He felt the urge to wrap his arms around her a soak in that warmth, but he kept his hands firmly clapped to his side.

"Then I told you, in essence," Satoshi murmured, "That I think you're amazing. That sometimes, I'm tempted to reach out and hold you. That when, before I knew that Mion and Shion are different people, I wished they were. I wanted them to be, because..."

"Because?" Shion inquired.

"... Because, to me, Shion is the most helpful, most wonderful person in my life," Satoshi said quickly. "Then, before I knew, there were two _Mion_s, and the normal one, the old one, was still a friend, but the second _Mion, _who was Shion, I sometimes wanted... wished I could be more than a friend to this other '_Mion' _without being more than a friend to the first '_Mion'_."

Shion's voice suddenly became choked up with emotion. "Satoshi-kun...!" She threw her arms around him, shaking.

She was so soft. It was like... being hugged by a down blanket.

"Just like yesterday," Satoshi said, returning the hug in kind. She stopped shaking, but held him tighter and blushed harder (which Satoshi had doubted was physically possible).

"And I told Satoshi-kun..." Shion's voice was muffled; she had buried her face in Satoshi's shoulder. "... That if he wanted to be 'more than friends' with me... he could. Because I love Satoshi-kun _so much_... if I said _no_ to that, I'd be denying myself."

"Well, as I said yesterday evening..." Satoshi held Shion a little tighter. "I wouldn't want to make Shion deny herself..."

"... But... does Satoshi-kun honestly think of me that way?" Shion wondered, half to herself. "I threw those books at Satoko, after all... and he literally only just found out I existed..."

Satoshi unlatched one of his arms from around Shion to pat her gently on the head. "Even if I thought they were another part of someone else... a girl who always looked out for me, always relaxed me when I felt stressed... how could I not like her, if even just a little?"

Shion hugged Satoshi just a little closer. "For me, though, this is like a dream..." She looked up at Satoshi and smiled...

Satoshi hadn't realized how close her face was to his. How very close her li--

His train of thought was broken by a voice.

"Satoshi-kun, are you... blushing?" Shion asked, somehow amazed by this fact.

Satoshi blinked. "Probably."

Shion got on her tiptoes and pressed her cheek against his. "Satoshi-kun blushed... for me..." And Satoshi knew that Shion had just cracked a smile, because the cheek muscle he was in contact with shifted upwards and the very corner of her lip brushed against his face. "That's... incredible. I never thought I would be so lucky..."

When she spoke, the small portion of lip touching Satoshi rubbed against his cheek.

It drove him crazy. Was she doing this by accident? Or did she secretly know, how much right now Satoshi wanted to...

"Sh-Shion? Yesterday, after we said all that..."

"Yes?" The lip brushed over again.

"Did-- did we kiss?"

Shion stood absolutely still, but Satoshi could feel her heart beating against his chest, the pounding of a gong.

"_Yes_." It wasn't an answer, it was a plea; Shion was begging. She removed her cheek from his, facing him. "Please..."

Satoshi bent his head forward, and his lips met with the only thing Satoshi had ever encountered that was softer than Shion's embrace. They hovered there, enjoying the feeling, neither moving but standing like statues with their lips pressed together.

"_Hem-hem_." Ooishi tapped Satoshi on the shoulder, causing Satoshi to freeze and Shion to hurriedly break off the kiss.

"Sorry to _interrupt_," Ooishi chuckled, "But I need you two to come to the station and answer a few questions. Shion-san, I called your family. Your sister answered the phone, so I think at least that part of the story is credible."

Shion nodded slowly.

"Well then, if you two will get into my car we can take you two lovebirds to the station..."

...

_Love and hate and gravity_

_Could not use their forces to intimidate me_

_While I was awake..._

...........................

(authornotes)

there are only lyrics in this chapter because I want to put lyrics from another song in the next one (song is Should Have, Could have by Corner Street Light), but now that song makes me think of those two. Then again, half the songs I hear do these days...

well, tell me what you thought?

(/authornotes)


	2. Taste Of Honey

(authornotes)

Thanks for your support, guys. And the fluff continues here! ... along with a little 'distinction'... and lime...

(/authornotes)

.....

_I dream of our first kiss, and then_

_I feel upon my lips again_

_A taste of honey, a taste of honey_

_Tasting much sweeter than wine..._

.....

"Thank you, Shion-san, for clearing things up with us," Officer Ooishi said. "Although we just caught a call saying somebody else, a known heroin addict from Okinomiya, confessed to killing Satoshi's aunt. Oh, and nice to meet you, by the way."

Shion shook hands with Ooishi and left the room. Upon reaching the lobby, she was abruptly pulled by the hand behind a pillar.

"Eh?" Shion looked up at her apparent captor. "Satoshi... kun? They already question you, you could have gone home..."

'Satoshi-kun stayed just to talk with me?' Shion wondered. 'No, that's too unrealistic, that would only happen in a dream.'

"Don't look now," Satoshi murmured, "But there's some people outside waiting for you. I'm fairly certain they're with the Sonozaki family."

"That much is obvious," Shion murmured. "Satoshi-kun, you didn't need to wait here just to tell me that, you could've gone home and gone to bed..."

"Just... be careful," Satoshi whispered, pulling Shion into a hug.

"Don't worry," said Shion, enjoying the embrace, "They're my family. What could they do to me?"

"I don't know... but I've heard some rather ominous things from Mion."

"I'll be fine, Satoshi-kun. I promise. What could happen?"

'If Satoshi-kun worries, then I can't let whatever happens bug me... he already has to deal with Satoko, right?' Shion thought, walking towards the men waiting for her.

'Love give me strength.'

...

"Grandmother is furious," Mion said in a monotone voice while dragging Shion by the wrist towards the ritual dungeons of the Sonozaki family. "I don't think I can protect you anymore, Shion."

And Sonozaki Oryou was indeed furious.

"What did you think was going through your head?" The old woman yelled. "How dare you shame us like this!"

"What is this about, demon hag?" Shion snapped.

"You know very well what this is about, you disrespectful upstart! This is about your lies!"

'It's because of Satoshi-kun, a voice said in the back of Shion's head. They think you stayed at Angel Morte, until late at night with Satoshi, like your alibi... and they don't like it.'

Shion glared. "This is about Satoshi-kun, isn't it? You don't want me to be with him, is that it, you demon hag?"

"Shion," Mion whispered in her nearly expressionless voice. "Stop now. You'll only make them angrier--"

"Whatever Mion is trying to tell you," Oryou said in a dangerous voice, "Your actions have shamed the entire Sonozaki fam--"

"The Sonozaki family!" Shion laughed. "I could care less about the Sonozaki family! What you say I can and cannot do... does not affect me in any way! I don't care if you disagree in our relationship, because... I Sonozaki Shion, am in love with Houjo Satoshi! That's right, I love him! More than anything! More than the world! And I'm going to stay together with him, and there's nothing any of your can do about it!"

Mion put her hand on Shion's shoulder. "Shion, you really should sto--"

"You ungrateful teenaged whore!" Oryou all but screamed. "You're lucky even to be alive! You know very well what would have happened to you at birth if your mother hadn't pleaded so much!"

"And? I'm alive now!" Shion laughed hysterically. "So much for the Sonozaki's unyielding discipline! Ha! What's your problem, anyway? Satoshi-kun didn't do anything to anger the Sonozaki except being born a Houjo!"

"Shion..." Mion said darkly, gripping Shion's shoulder tightly, "How many people have helped you since your started this deception?"

Shion frowned. "Deception... you mean when I left the boarding school?"

"Yes. We have Kasai and our uncle Yoshiro in there," Mion's monotone informed her. "In the inner chamber."

"The inner..." Shion gasped. The inner chamber was where prisoners were kept, where most of the torture took place. "But we don't use that place anymore... right?" Shion said nervously. "You're not going to hurt them, are you?"

Mion's next statement answered this question. "If you don't repent, 'sinless' Satoshi will join them."

Fear flooded Shion's heart. "Satoshi-kun... will..."

"Apologize."

'No! Don't hurt him! I'll do anything!'

Shion sank to her knees and bent over in a bowing gesture. "I'm so... sorry... Forgive me, Grandmother! Forgive me!"

"Are you willing to make up for your sins?" Mion asked, her voice continuing to betray no sign of emotion.

"Yes," Shion whispered. "I'll repent."

'For Satoshi-kun, I will make it look like I'm sorry to these people who do not care.'

Mion nodded at an underling to the Sonozaki family sitting in a corner, who brought out a strange device and put it on the table. From the sound it made, it was heavy and made of metal.

Shion was forced up by he older sister and brought in front of the thing. It had a lever of some kind on one side, with leather straps on the other. Shion didn't know what it was, but she had an uneasy feeling her stomache that told her she was soon to find out.

"This is an eighteenth-century European device," was Mion's cold explanation, "For ripping out fingernails. Do you know how to use it?"

"No! Why would I know how to use a thing like that?"

"Don't worry, we'll teach you. You're going to remove three of your fingernails."

"... What?"

"For your three mistakes."

"Three mistakes..." Shion murmured. 'I get it. One fingernail for Kasai, one for Yoshiro-ojisan, and one for Satoshi-kun... with this, I can save all of them.' "Show me how."

Shion's arm was forced through the straps on the device, the buckles tightened so she couldn't move the arm. The nail on her little finger was put between two tabs, which were tightened.

"Press the lever, Shion, but do it quickly and with force or your nail won't come out all the way."

Shion nodded, gulping. When did Mion learn these things?

Slowly, Shion brought up her fist. All to quickly, she pounded down on the lever.

Shion's middle fingernail came out cleanly, but the pain that suddenly hit her was excruciating, like nothing she'd ever experienced before.

"This... really hurts!" Shion gasped. "This... this'll save them, right? You won't hurt them?"

"Have you had enough?" Mion asked, walking towards the door of the inner chamber.

"No... I'll... I'll finish!" Shion cried, putting the nail on her ring finger between the tabs.

Just the thought of doing this to herself again, let alone two more times, made Shion feel sick. But I have to... Shion licked her lips in self-preparation.

There was a strange taste there, something foreign. What could it...

_'Satoshi-kun's kiss!' _Shion realized. '_That taste... is... Satoshi-kun's... for Satoshi-kun, I'll do this.'_

"Any day now, Shion," Mion yawned. "Press the lever."

"Right..." Shion said distractedly, and she gulped and brought her fist down hard on the lever once more.

But not hard enough.

"It's not all the way off," Oryou said. "You'll have to do it over."

The intense pain ripped at Shion again, and she dared to look over at the nail on her ring finger, which was only half torn off.

Shion doubled over, feeling sick to her stomach. "I...."

She rinserted the nail into the tab, but when she raised her hand she found she couldn't move it downwards, like every part of her body rejected the things Shion was trying to do to herself.

"I... I can't..." She whispered. "I can't!"

Mion turned her head and nodded to three of the Sonozaki underlings standing against the wall.

A bag was shoved over Shion's head and her arms grabbed from behind.

"Wait-- what are you-- No!"

She was held in front of the contraption, and one of the underlings forced her free arm up, the one Shion would use to pull the lever.

"No! Don't make me do this!" Shion cried. "No! No! No!"

Her first was shoved forcefully down onto the lever by the man grabbing her arm, pulling her fingernail off the rest of the way.

Shion screamed. Tears leaked down her face and fell into her open mouth, made the rough fabric of the bag on her face stick to her skin.

'How will this help Satoshi-kun?' She thought. 'This is just something to hurt me personally! They've always hated me, shoved me away, locked me up in the attic or in the boarding schools... deep down, this family hates me, except for... no. Mion hates me too, she's the one who told me to do this after all. I am despised by the Sonozaki family for being born, just like Satoshi-kun.'

Shion's middle finger was shifted between the tabs, and Shion realized that there was still one more fingernail to be be ripped out.

The underling swung Shion's arm up again.

"No! No! Don't- don't! No!"

The downward push, the ominous clicking noise, the pain worse than ever before, the tears, the scream, and Shion lost conciousness.

...

When Shion woke up, she was alone in her apartment in Okinomiya. A wave of nausea hit her and she ran to the bathroom to throw up.

There were bandages on Shion's fingers, and the place her nails would usually be ached terribly. She held her hand up and smiled.

'Satoshi-kun is safe now...'

...

Shion ran down the road, a cloth-wrapped package under her arm.

'I hope he's still home,' she thought, coming to stop in front of a house. Still out of breath, she approached the door and cautiously knocked.

The door slammed open to reveal a very ugly, very unhappy, middle-aged blond man in a hawaiian shirt. "Waddayouwant?" He asked, glaring.

"Is... has Satoshi-kun left for school yet?" Shion asked, trying to sound polite. 'That must be the uncle. Shouldn't he be a little more... down that his wife died?'

Houjo Teppei sneered, then turned around and yelled into the house. "Satoshi! Some bitch with green hair is here to see you!"

A few thudding noises were heard, and Satoshi appeared out of the hallway. He was still in his pajamas.

"... Shion?" He said sleepily. "Why are you here so early?" A hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Did you miss me that badly? It's only been a day or so since I last saw you..."

Shion flushed and hid the cloth-wrapped box behind her. "Has Satoshi-kun... made lunch yet?"

Satoshi shook his head. "No, I just got up... why?"

Teppei rolled his eyes and moved away from the doorway, muttering something rude about teenagers, then disappeared into another part of the house.

Shion watched him go, then returned to the subject. "I... made an extra lunch today."

She held the cloth-wrapped box, which was a lunchbox, in front of her nervously. "Do you want it?"

"Yes," Satoshi said quickly, and he all but ran to take the lunchbox from her. "Thank y-- Shion?"

"Yes?"

"What happened to your hand?" He gestured at the bandaged on Shion's left hand worriedly.

Shion's eyes widened. "I... tripped," she lied. "I landed funny on my fingers... a couple nails came off."

Satoshi frowned. "Be more careful next time..."

Slowly, he took Shion's hand and laced the bandaged fingers between his. Bringing the hand up, he gently brushed his lips over her fingertips.

Shion froze. The blood went to her head. Something in her chest fluttered.

"Get... get better soon, okay?" Satoshi muttered, blushing.

"I'll have to now," Shion murmured, giving Satoshi's hand a squeeze. "If Satoshi-kun wants me to get better soon, I will."

"Wait!" A third voice broke through the bashful atmosphere. "Nii Nii said Mion wasn't his girlfriend!"

"I'm not Mion," Shion said for the second time that week. "I'm her younger twin sister, Sonozaki Shion."

Satoko stared at Shion. "No you're not. You're Mion with a different hairstyle."

Satoshi sighed. "This is Shion, I can tell the difference."

"Which is?" Satoko asked, still unbelieving.

"Shion is the one who does things for me," Satoshi replied. "Also, her tone of voice is different."

"Why did Satoko think my sister was your girlfriend?" Shion wondered.

"Let's see, the blushing faces when Nii Nii wasn't looking, the shoulder massages, the putting Nii Nii first..."

"Those were all Shion," Satoshi supplied.

Satoko grinned. "So Shion-san is Nii Nii's girlfriend, that's why he said it wasn't Mion!"

Satoshi flushed instantly. "Satoko! I never said Shion was--"

"I wouldn't mind if I was," Shion mumbled.

"... Oh," Satoshi said. "Well, I wouldn't mind either... if..."

Satoko made a gagging face and left the room. 'Good riddance,' Shion thought. 'She only puts extra pressure on Satoshi-kun. Even if her current teasing only helped me.'

"... If you don't mind, that is," Satoshi said quietly.

Shion smiled. "I already said I don't mind."

Satoshi leaned forward and kissed Shion on the cheek. "Wait ten minutes, I'll walk to school with you."

"About that... I go to school in Okinomiya," Shion sighed. "I should get going soon."

Satoshi blinked. "You came all this way to bring me a lunchbox?"

"It was worth it, wasn't it?" Shion giggled nervously. "I got a kiss from Satoshi-kun."

'Actually, the thought that Satoshi-kun would even want to kiss me is amazing,' she thought. 'I'm so lucky...'

"Well, if that's why you did it..." Satoshi wrapped his arm that wasn't holding the lunchbox around Shion's waist. "I don't think I've done enough."

"Sa... Satoshi-kun..." Shion closed her eyes and leaned towards Satoshi. "You've already done too much for me."

Shion felt Satoshi's breath grow closer, felt her heart rate increase--

"Satoshi!" Teppei yelled, sticking his head into the room. "Stop making out with your bitch of a girlfriend and make breakfast!"

"Y-yes, Uncle! Sorry, Shion."

"It's okay," Shion said. "I'll catch you in Okinomiya after your work, okay?"

"Right." Satoshi brushed his lips over Shion's and let go of her. "Thanks for the lunch."

Teppei glared. "Satoshi, you bastard! What the hell did I just tell you? Make me my damned breakfast!"

"Sorry, uncle."

Shion waved goodbye and started walking back to Okinomiya.

"I'm going to be late on my first day at a new school... well, I don't mind," Shion said to herself. "The consequences so far haven't been so bad..."

She ran her tongue over her lips. "Satoshi-kun's taste is back."

'Isn't he moving awfully fast with you?' Asked a voice in the back of Shion's head. 'Maybe he's just taking advantage of us.'

Shion smiled. "Even if that's all it is, I don't mind. Any reason for Satoshi-kun to kiss me of his own free will is a good reason." She giggled and licked her lips again.

'You're just a little creepy,' the voice decided.

.............

Three days went by. Shion would bring Satoshi a lunchbox in the morning (much to the annoyance of his uncle), then meet him after his part-time job in the afternoon to get it back. Sometimes they carried on a conversation, sometimes they just stood there holding hands. Shion was in a state of pure, unadulterated joy.

On the fourth day, Satoshi entered the Cafe Angel Morte wearing a large backpack.

"Satoshi-kun!" Shion gasped. 'Umm... table for one, right?"

'See? He doesn't love us,' said the voice in the back of Shion's head. 'He's just a pervert. Why else would he be here?'

"Mion said I could find you here," Satoshi said. "We need to talk."

Shion nodded. "I get off in about five minutes. What happened to you?"

There were bruises on Satoshi's face and he had walked with a limp. "My uncle," he said tiredly. "I'd rather not talk about it. I'll wait by the employee's entrance."

The next five minutes dragged on unbearably for Shion. As soon as her shift ended, she bolted out the door without changing.

"What did Satoshi-kun need to talk about?"

"Two things," Satoshi said slowly, "One..." He took a deep breath. "I think I might be in love with you, or at least I like you a whole lot."

'Satoshi-kun likes me back!' Shion's heart jumped, sang, bounced up and down to further aggravate the butterflies in her stomach. She ran over to wrap her arms around Satoshi, who returned the embrace.

"And-- the second thing?"

"My uncle got angry with me and decided that I was no longer welcome at his house," Satoshi said quietly, his gaze drooping to the ground. "I have no place to stay, so I'm going to take the money that would have bought Satoko's birthday present and leave town..."

His face held an attempt at a smile, but Satoshi sounded heartbroken. "I'll write you, okay?"

'Satoshi-kun only cares about his Satoko,' the voice told Shion. 'He isn't that sad to be leaving us, he's just sad that he can't get that stupid teddy bear for his stupid sister. No matter, though... this is probably the last time you'll ever get to see him.'

"You don't have to leave!" Shion gasped, squeezing Satoshi tightly. Her eyes were wet. "Can't you just stay with someone else?"

"I'm the son of the Houjo traitors," Satoshi reminded her. "The only person old enough to own a house who'd possibly support me is Coach Irie, and he lives in a small room at the clinic."

"No one?" Shion asked, her voice breaking. "No one cares enough about Satoshi-kun to let him stay near his sister?"

"And no one cares enough about Satoko to let me stay and protect her," Satoshi spat. "There is no one for us Houjo in that village."

"But you have to stay!" Shion wailed. "Because there are things Satoshi-kun wants to do here! To get that bear for Satoko! To see Satoko every day! To go to school with his friends, to play baseball with the Hinamizawa fighters! And because... because I want Satoshi-kun to stay! There's really nowhere you can go?"

"I'd have to find someone in the area who didn't despise my family and had enough space," Satoshi murmured. "There's no one who cares enough. I'll write you once I find a place, all right?" He gave her a peck on the cheek, patted her on the head, and sighed. "I should go."

"... I care," Shion mumbled, slowly realizing something. "I live in a small apartment by myself... There's a spare room, it's small, but Satoshi could sleep there..."

"You'd let me stay with you?" Satoshi wondered. "Wouldn't your parents--"

"They have no say over who stays in an apartment I pay for myself," Shion said quietly. "I promise I won't take advantage of your situation or anything, so please... don't leave."

Satoshi bit his lip. "I don't really want to intrude, but... is it really okay? I can stay with you?"

"Of course!" Shion smiled the widest she ever had in her life. "Of course it's okay! Why would I mind lending the guest room to a boy I'm in love with?"

Satoshi blushed. "Living together and I've only officially known you for six days..."

"You don't have to think of it that way!" Shion said quickly, feeling the heat her face rise. "I'm not asking Satoshi-kun to-- to do the things couples who live together do!"

"Of course you're not," Satoshi said, laughing awkwardly. "Why would you be?"

Shion nodded. "Right... I should probably show you where my apartment is, then..."

"You might want to change out of your work uniform first," Satoshi suggested with a chuckle.

Shion was still wearing her Cafe Angel Morte work outfit.

"...Oh!" She laughed awkwardly. "Good idea!"

.........

"Here we are," Shion said nervously, pulling her key out of her pocket and unlocking her apartment door. "Home sweet home..."

She opened the door and showed Satoshi inside.

"I really can't thank you enough," Satoshi said quietly.

"Satoshi-kun is perfectly welcome," Shion mumbled in reply. "I mean... I'm only asking out of selfishness..."

"You mean selflessness?" Satoshi questioned. "Because that's what this is."

"No, selfishness," Shion repeated. "I just didn't want Satoshi-kun to disappear... and..." she blushed. "The idea of seeing Satoshi-kun at breakfast, and when I come home after work, and, and having dinner with him, and saying 'good morning' every morning and 'good night' every night... i-isn't exactly my idea of a bad situation..."

"... Oh," Satoshi said. "W-well, if you're going to show me this sort of kindness it's the least I can do..."

"I sounded really creepy just then, didn't I," Shion mumbled, looking away.

"N... No!" Satoshi said quickly. "You just... really like me! That's all!"

"No, I really, really love you!"

"I love you too!"

Both teenagers stood there, looking away from each other, red in the face, unable to find anything else to say.

Eventually, Satoshi broke the silence. "Muu... Shion?"

"Yes, Satoshi-kun?"

"Where should I put my stuff?" He asked, jabbing his thumb backwards at his backpack. "My shoulders are starting to get sore..."

"...Oh! Right this way!" Shion led Satoshi to the guest room, which had once been a walk-in closet.

"This is the guest room... well technically, it's a closet that we shoved a bed into," Shion laughed. "On the downside, it's connected to my room instead of the hall... so you might want to knock before leaving if you have the door closed."

"R-right," Satoshi said, relinquishing his backpack to the floor beside the guest room bed. "Shion..."

"Yes?" Shion asked quickly. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, just..." Satoshi smiled nervously. "Thank you so much." He reached over and squeezed Shion's hand.

Shion blushed for the umpteenth time that day, and squeezed back.

They stood there for a few seconds, holding hands, enjoying the moment.

"...I should make dinner soon," Shion mumbled. "D'you want anything...?"

"Anything is fine," Satoshi said, smiling. "I guess I am a little hungry."

His stomach grumbled. "Muu... maybe more than a little hungry."

"I'd better cook fast before that noise wakes up the neighbors," Shion teased, poking Satoshi in the stomach with her free hand.

"Muu... it's not that loud, is it?" Satoshi worried. "I wouldn't want to disturb..."

"Satoshi-kun, I was joking."

"... Oh."

...

Shion went to the kitchen and started preparing the ingredients for fried rice. Satoshi was unpacking his bag in Shion's closet-- er, the guest room-- so Shion was alone with her thoughts.

'Satoshi-kun is staying in my house. He's staying here for an unspecified amount of time. Together with Satoshi-kun...'

'He's just taking advantage of you,' Chided the voice in Shion's head. 'He just wants to be there for his sister...'

'He said he loves me,' Shion thought back. Her heart beat just a little faster. 'Satoshi-kun says he loves me...'

'He's lying,' the voice snapped back. 'And you're lying to yourself by saying he isn't. You know what that makes you? Desperate. Clingy. Delusional--'

"SHUT UP!" Shion yelled, cracking an egg in her hand.

"I'm sorry!" came a muffled gasp from Satoshi three rooms away. "I'll stop!"

"No, not you!" Shion yelled back quickly. "I meant... ummm... er... I was just talking to myself!"

"Oh, okay," Satoshi laughed, his voice growing closer, "Because I was singing Beatles songs to myself and I was afraid you didn't like the Beatles."

"Don't be silly," Shion giggled, "Everyone likes The Beatles. They're The Beatles."

"My uncle doesn't," Satoshi said quietly.

"Oh," Shion said. "... Did he yell 'shut up' when you sang?"

"He yelled 'shut up' when I said much of anything," Satoshi sighed. "I feel bad for saying this, but I'm actually thrilled to be out of that house that he lives in. Even if I can't protect Satoko as well living here."

"There will be no protecting of any kind inside this house," Shion said sharply. "Satoshi-kun can relax here. If anything, I, Sonozaki Shion, will protect Satoshi-kun."

"Shion..." Satoshi chuckled. "What is there in this house that I would need protecting from?"

"Monsters in the closet?" Shion giggled.

The blond boy smirked. "Should've told me about that sooner if I'm sleeping in your closet."

"No, the monster is in the hall closet," Shion said quickly, cracking a smile.

Satoshi laughed. "I'll keep out of the hall closet, then. ... Would you like help with dinner?"

"Ummm... could you start the rice cooker?" Shion asked. "If it's not too much trouble..."

"It's perfectly fine!" Satoshi said, all but diving for the rice cooker. "Oh, it's already filled... do I just press the 'start' button then?"

"That's the idea," Shion giggled.

Satoshi pressed the button, and Shion started chopping up vegetables.

"Do you want any help with..."

"Satoshi-kun is my guest," Shion replied. "Sit tight. I can chop greens my... self..."

Shion's eyes began to water. She sniffed.

"Shion, are you... crying?" Satoshi got up from the kitchen table. "Was it something I said?"

He ran to her side.

"I'm chopping onions, Satoshi-kun," Shion explained. "When you chop onions your eyes..."

Satoshi let out a breath he had apparently been holding in. "Oh... that's a relief. I thought you maybe cut your fingers with the knife and..."

"Why would I cry over a little thing like that?" Shion sniffed. "It takes much worse to make me cry."

"I believe that," Satoshi said, wrapping his arms around her. "I just... worry..."

"Satoshi-kun is a little paranoid," Shion giggled. "Imagining the worst situation."

"It happens when you grow up in that house," Satoshi sighed. "And, during the dam incident... a crashing noise really was a rock through your window and not a broken plate..."

"Satoshi-kun has lived a hard life," Shion murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Always being hated... always doing everything for everyone else. Satoshi-kun, who is already under stress, being forced to carry his sister on his shoulders... always the selfless one, never getting the chance to be selfish."

"I don't ever have a good opportunity to be selfish. My sister..."

"I know, you need to protect her," Shion sighed. "But... everyone deserves to be a little selfish sometimes. So... Satoshi-kun, you don't need to be polite or helpful when you're here. You can just... be Satoshi-kun."

"So this is my chance to be selfish?" Satoshi asked. "That's awfully kind of you."

"No, I am Satoshi-kun's chance to be selfish."

"Are you now?" Satoshi smiled. "Well, then... selfishly, I'll..."

He turned his head and pressed his lips to Shion's mouth, moving his lips against hers.

Shion took a second to realize what was happening, then kissed him back, getting on her tiptoes to press herself closer. Satoshi held her tighter and kissed her again, harder this time.

And he was all there was. Shion couldn't feel the floor beneath her feet or the breeze coming in through the kitchen window. She felt Satoshi's arms around her, Satoshi's lips melded to hers, and Satoshi's heart beating frantically, almost as frantically as her own. Satoshi's taste on her lips again...

The kiss ended, and Satoshi pulled away. "Now, was that me being selfish or you being selfish?" He whispered.

"Satoshi-kun started it," Shion said quietly.

"I suppose I did."

Satoshi kissed Shion on the cheek and held her for a moment, then let go and went to stop the rice cooker.

.....

"That was delicious," Satoshi announced, having just cleared his plate for the third time.

Shion smiled. "It was just fried rice..."

"It was delicious fried rice," Satoshi replied. "Better than I could make. Although maybe that's not saying much..."

"I wouldn't know," Shion giggled. "Satoshi-kun would have to cook for me for me to find out."

"I suppose... maybe that's not a good idea, though. Satoko usually does the cooking..."

'Satoko again,' the voice in Shion's head snickered. 'See? All he cares about.'

"Satoko must be more capable than I gave her credit for," Shion said slowly.

Satoshi smiled. "Well, she's growing up. Someday, she won't need me anymore."

"I always will," Shion mumbled. "Does that mean I'm not growing up?"

Satoshi shook his head. "No, no! I don't mean that! Satoko needs me in a different way..." He blushed. "So you... need me, you say?"

"I love you," Shion pointed out. "So... yes."

"Well, if that's the case... I need you too," Satoshi said.

They sat there, smiling at each other. Shion realized that this was a little sappy of her, and looked away.

"Would Satoshi-kun... like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

.....

When Shion got out of the shower that night, she peeked in through the open closet-- ah, guest room-- door. Satoshi was asleep, curled up under the green bedspread.

Quietly, Shion tiptoed over to Satoshi's bedside. He looked so peaceful sleeping there, relieved even. Shion supposed that Satoshi probably didn't sleep as well in the house his uncle lived in.

"Beautiful..." Shion murmured. She smiled. "Sleep well."

She leaned over and gave Satoshi a kiss on the cheek...

"I'm not asleep," he murmured, smiling. Satoshi sat up and returned the kiss, hugging her around the shoulders.

"I can see that now." Shion sat on the bed and kissed him again.

Satoshi wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down with him...

"Tell me to stop if I go too far," Satoshi whispered.

"I will..." Shion breathed, kissing him on the cheek.

But the closer Satoshi held her, and the harder Satoshi kissed her, the more of Satoshi she wanted. Shion ended up not telling Satoshi to stop, even when his lips reached places besides Shion's face, or when his hands went for the belt of her bathrobe...

Shion's hair, wet from the shower she had just taken, dried and tangled under the covers.

......

A few hours later found Shion lying awake in the bed in her closet-- err, guest room-- with Satoshi next to her, fast asleep for real this time.

'See? He loves me. He really does,' she told the voice in the back of her head. There was no answer.

'So you're gone now?' Shion asked the voice. Again, no reply.

'Good.'

Shion wrapped her arms around Satoshi's sleeping form and fell asleep.

........

_Yours was the kiss that awoke my heart_

_That lingers still, 'though we're far apart_

_A taste of honey, a taste of honey_

_Tasting much sweeter than wine..._

_......._

(authornotes)

Doo doo n doo... well, chapter 2's a wrap. sorry for taking so long... I had school... and then camp... and I'm about to go to another camp... as soon as this is posted...

mrr I'm not good at limes.

"A Taste of Honey" belongs to The Beatles.

(/authornotes)


	3. You Like Me Too Much

**(warning: this chapter contains limes. in the plural.)**

_You'll never leave me and you know it's true_

_'Cause you like me too much and I like you_

_I really do..._

...............

_'That was a __**good**__ dream,'_ was Satoshi's first thought as he woke up the first morning in Shion's closet-- err, guest room. _'Although, I don't think Shion would... actually...'_ Satoshi flushed. _'... Get your mind out of the gutter, Satoshi. It was just a dream... just a fantasy... Shion would never let--'_

Satoshi's train of thought was broken by someone kissing him on the cheek.

"Good morning, Satoshi-kun," Shion said drowsily, sounding very pleased with herself. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, very wel-- Sh-Shion?!?"

Shion was in Satoshi's bed, under the covers next to him, with her hair tangled into twisted spikes (her hair being green, this had a very medusa-like affect). It didn't look too much like she was wearing anything.

"Yes?" Shion asked. "Is something wrong?" She rolled over a little to give Satoshi a one-armed hug.

...Shion was _decidedly _not wearing anything.

But if Shion was in his bed, naked, then...

"IT WASN'T A DREAM?!?" Satoshi yelped, sitting up quickly.

Shion, having been thrown off of Satoshi as he sprung up, blinked. "What wasn't a-- oh."

She blushed like a tomato and looked the other way. "If you mean... last night, well... It was_ like_ a dream..."

"So I... we..."

"Y-yes."

"Oh, Shion," Satoshi whispered, "I'm so sorry."

It was Shion's turn to sit up in surprise. "Satoshi-kun is... sorry?" She gasped, sounding hurt.

"I know, an apology isn't enough," Satoshi sighed. "After I... intrude on your apartment..."

"S-Satoshi-kun--" Shion started to say, but Satoshi cut her off.

"Eat your food for free--"

"Satoshi-kun--"

"All of this without any form of payment--"

"Satoshi-kun--!"

"I go and... do this to you... deflower... defile... destroy..."

"But... Satoshi-kun!" Shion yelled, finally getting his attention. "I wanted you to!"

Satoshi froze.

"You told me to stop if you went too far," Shion continued. "Did I? Did I tell you to stop, Satoshi-kun?"

Satoshi's face colored as he remembered the events of the evening before. "N-No, you... told me to..."

"Exactly. Quite the opposite. So, yes, Satoshi-kun came to my apartment and eats here for free. Yes Satoshi-kun took other... liberties. B-but, I wanted you to, so... please don't be sorry!" Shion pleaded, tears starting to collect in her eyes. "Don't be sorry for doing that with me! Because I... I'm so, so glad you did!"

The two teenagers sat there for a moment, blushing and trying not to look at each other.

Satoshi broke the silence. "But... I really should've have..."

"But you did, Satoshi-kun, and I don't feel violated, so you don't need to feel like you did anything wrong. In fact, given the choice, I'd prefer Satoshi-kun do it again...!" Shion mumbled, her face gaining more of its crimson hue with every word.

"Is that... so..." Satoshi said, a smile breaking over his face, finally taking the point of view he knew Shion wanted him to. "Well, the least I can do for intruding on your house and eating your food is making you happy..."

Shion nodded. "Now, that's the attitude I was hoping for when we woke up," she giggled. "Kiss me?"

"Don't mind if I do," Satoshi replied, wrapping his arms around her and pressing their lips together.

"Satoshi-kun, I love you so much..." Shion whispered.

_'This girl,' _Satoshi wondered._ 'Is there anything she wouldn't do for me? It's almost... frightening...'_

Satoshi shook his head and turned his attention to Shion. Her body was warm... he held her tighter, deepening the kiss, falling back onto the mattress of the bed in Shion's closet-- I mean, guest room.

...........

The clock on the wall chimed noon.

"Call me crazy, but I think we're both late for school," Satoshi said.

"I might call in sick," Shion said lazily, tracing circles on his chest.

"I might do the same," Satoshi decided, "But the phone's in your room and I'd have to let go of you to get up."

"I'll come with you," Shion suggested, "And then you don't have to let go of me."

Satoshi picked Shion up and ran out of the closet-- umm, guest room-- into Shion's bedroom, grabbed the phone, and sat on Shion's desk with her in his lap.

Shion called her school and told her teacher in a very weak voice she that wasn't feeling very well.

She then handed the phone to Satoshi, who called the school in Hinamizawa.

It was lunch break in Hinamizawa, so it should not have been a surprise that Satoko answered the phone in the classroom.

"Hello, Houjo Satoshi speaki--"

"Nii Nii! Where are you?" Satoko gasped. "I thought... I thought you were going to leave town! And I'd never see you again!"

"I did," Satoshi said. "I'm in Okinomiya, actually. And I'm still going to school with you and the others. I'm just not feeling too well today, so I'll come back tomorrow, all right?"

"Can I come visit you?" Satoko asked. "Nii Nii, I was so worried..."

"Umm, I'll have to ask my landlady about that," Satoshi coughed. He looked over at Shion, who had been listening in on their conversation.

She nodded slowly... reluctantly.

_'Right,' _Satoshi thought._ 'Shion doesn't that that highly of Satoko, I remember that now. Because she sees her as a burden to me... I think. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm particularly glad for that little outburst of hers last week, but I suppose it's the thought that counts.'_

"...Your sister can visit as long as she doesn't make you feel any worse," Shion said a little stiffly.

Satoshi translated this into the phone as, "Yes, but I'm very tired so don't make too much noise."

"I... I promise to be quiet!" Satoko promised. "I'll even bring you some soup! I just want to see my Nii Nii again!"

"I'll see you then," Satoshi said. He gave Satoko the address for Shion's apartment and then said, "... Could you put Mion on for a second?"

"Sure." There was a rustling noise over the phone line, and then Mion's voice interjected with:

"You're not staying at my sister's house, are you?"

"Muu..." Satoshi blinked. "Where'd you come up with an assumption like that...?"

He grinned. "Now, since I'm not feeling well, could you pass a message along to Shion next time you see her?"

Shion swiveled her head in Satoshi's direction and looked at him quizzically.

"I guess, what is it?"

"Could you tell Shion... that Houjo Satoshi says he loves her very much and is so glad someone loves him back?"

"Oh, come on," Mion sighed. "That's so mushy. ...Fine. But I'll expect some sort of payment when you come back!"

Mion hung up on her end, and Satoshi put the phone down.

"She didn't seem too surprised at my confession," Satoshi wondered.

"I told my sister about the kiss a few days ago," Shion whispered, snaking her arms around his neck. "And how much I love you, and about how sweet you are."

"How could I not be?" Satoshi murmured, twisting his head around to kiss her.

It was Shion, who loved him too much for her own good and whom he couldn't get enough of. What else could he do?

He held her closer and kissed her again.

They were still like this, sitting on the desk, kissing passionately, completely naked, when Testuyoshi Kasai came in through the door ten minutes later holding a bag of groceries.

The groceries dropped and Kasai bowled over the two, knocking Satoshi to the floor with a kick to the face while placing himself protectively in front of Shion.

"Get some clothes on," the angry bodyguard growled, "And then you two have some explanations to make."

............

"Now that you're both... clothed," Kasai said, looking at the two teenagers on the couch across from him, "Would the gentleman care to explain why my charge was in his lap, naked?"

"He wasn't hurting me!" Shion protested.

"It didn't look like he was hurting you," Kasai growled, his unexpressive face coloring slightly behind his sunglasses. "But you were still both naked."

"I'm sorry..." Satoshi mumbled, holding up an ice pack to his wounded cheekbone. "We... got a little carried away..."

It was amazing to Satoshi how a man wearing sunglasses could glare at him so forcefully. Maybe that was part of his training. All Satoshi knew was that it scared him a little.

"Satoshi-kun is staying here because his uncle kicked him out," Shion said helpfully. "Eheheh, I guess you could say one thing left to another..."

"Yes," Kasai grunted, "I can see that."

"I'm sorry," Satoshi sighed, flushing. "I... I can promise I won't do it again. I really shouldn't have done that to--"

"Don't promise that!" Shion gasped. "Kasai is my bodyguard! If you're... embarrassed, I can ask him not to tell anyone, even if he doesn't like it..."

"I'm not embarrassed of you," Satoshi said quickly, giving Shion's hand a squeeze. "But... I know first-hand how hard it is to be ostracized in Hinamizawa..."

"I'll be fine," Shion said. "I know better than you think. We should explain things better to Kasai, though. He looks pretty angry right now..."

"I never said I was angry," Kasai said gruffly.

Shion blinked. "You're?"

"You're only young once," the large man continued, the trace of a smile almost visible on his stony face. "So, I suppose this isn't a problem... as long as Shion doesn't get hurt."

"I would never do anything to hurt Shion," Satoshi breathed, half out of truth and half out of fear.

"Good," Kasai said. "Because, if you did..."

He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled a gun halfway out, nodded, and put it away.

"...Yes, sir," Satoshi gulped. "I understand."

"Good," Kasai said again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to replace the groceries I dropped and broke when I walked in on you two."

He got up out of the chair he was sitting in and left the apartment.

Satoshi let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in.

"Don't worry," Shion giggled. "Kasai may look scary, but he's a real sweetheart. He's more of a nanny than a bodyguard."

"Hence the groceries...?" Satoshi asked.

"Hence the groceries." Shion's stomache grumbled. "I should really make breakfast..."

"I think, considering the situation, I should make breakfast," Satoshi pointed out. "I mean, I hear the morning after... ummm, you know... the girl doesn't always... feel too good, so..."

"I'm fine," Shion said, giving Satoshi a hug. "Besides, you don't know the way around my kitchen."

"... And the only thing I can cook without burning is omelette," Satoshi chuckled. "And sometimes I burn that too."

"...Omelette would be nice," Shion thought aloud. "If Satoshi-kun is that eager to cook for me."

"I think you deserve someone else to make you breakfast after sharing nearly everything you have with me," Satoshi said.

Shion giggled. "Not everything, I haven't given you any money yet."

"You've given me food you payed for," Satoshi pointed out. "That's about the same."

Shion's stomach grumbled again. Satoshi kissed her forehead lightly and proceeded to attempt to make breakfast.

...................

The next day, Satoshi woke up in Shion's bed, with Shion in his arms and a smile on his face. He got up, took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast with Shion, kissed her goodbye and was out the door.

When he got to school, Satoshi was greeted by his little sister, who was crying.

"Nii Nii... I missed you!" was all she managed to get out before whatever she said drowned out under the sound of her own sobs.

"Are you okay?" Satoshi asked quickly, crinkling his brow in worry. "Has Uncle been mistreating you again?"

"It's... the same as usual," Satoko mumbled, clinging onto the back of her brother's shirt. "Actually, I think he might be packing to leave... he hasn't been the same since our aunt died..."

"Let's hope he leaves as quickly as possible, then..." Satoshi said weakly. "Satoko, I'm so sorry I can't be there to protect you..."

"I was going to visit you yesterday at the place you're staying, but I had to make dinner... the soup that I intended for Nii Nii went down Uncle's throat..." Satoko sniffed. "I'm sorry, Nii Nii..."

Memories of the real reason Satoshi hadn't come to school flooded his memory along with guilt. He'd caused more unnecessary pain for his sister... he hadn't thought of it at the time. It had sounded like a good idea to stay in the small, safe apartment yesterday; it was quiet there, no one yelled or made the people he loved worry there... and it goes without saying that Shion was there. Which made the other reasons almost mere conveniences in the end...

"D-Don't worry," Satoshi said. "It was just a little... cold. I'm all better now, okay?"

"Okay..." Satoko sighed. "Don't make us worry like that, all right? We all thought you'd flown the coup..."

"Is the place you're staying expensive?" Rika asked, apparently having just entered the classroom. "If it's too much, you could stay at my house, nano desu."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you," Satoshi laughed. "Trust me, except for the fact that it's not with Satoko, I'm fine where I am."

"You do look better rested than usual..." Rika noted. "But you know, I'm lonely living by myself. Nipah!"

She smiled innocently, but something told Satoshi that Rika knew exactly what was going on.

They locked eyes. Rika's expression changed very little, but Satoshi got the message all the same...

The look in the Furude priestess's eyes said, _'What you're doing is wrong.'_

........................

From there, Satoshi's day didn't get much worse, but it didn't get much better either. Along with the occasional well-disguised glare from Rika, Mion had taken it upon herself to tease Satoshi about the fact that he was dating her sister as much as possible.

"Say, Satoshi?" She asked during the middle of workbook time. "You're dating my sister, right?"

"Yeah..." Satoshi mumbled, blushing a little. "Why...?"

"Do you like her for her personality or is it just her looks?" Mion giggled malevolently. "Because if you liked her for her looks you coulda had me years ago--"

"Obviously, it's not for her looks then," Satoshi said quietly. "It must be her selfless personality and her sweet disposition..."

"Dude, you're whupped!" Mion laughed, loudly enough that nearly everyone in the room turned their heads and looked at her for a second before going back to their workbooks.

"Eh?" Rena, the recent transfer student who'd become fast friends with Mion, asked. "Mii-chan has a sister?"

"We're identical twins," Mion said mysteriously. "Maybe you've already met her...!"

"Maybe Rena has!" Rena giggled, playing along with what she thought was a joke. "Was it you or her that day Mii-chan said she liked someone~?"

"That must have been Shion," Mion coughed, kicking Rena's chair.

"Oh dear, that is confusing," Rena laughed. "Rena wonders, if Mii-chan and Mii-chan's sister stood side by side, could Rena tell them apart?"

"Only if you came across them by chance," Satoshi noted. "If Shion wants to be Mion, she's very convincing. But normally, she wears her hair differently and choses... different clothing."

"You were going to say 'more feminine,' weren't you," Mion said, glaring.

"I was not," Satoshi lied. He knew Mion was defensive of her girliness-- or rather, lack thereof. "I was going to say 'classier,' if you must know."

"Riiiiiiight," Mion said, "I don't believe you!"

"I think Mii-chan is jealous that her sister's cuter," Rena giggled. "Ohhh, what if she really is? Rena wants to meet her! Rena wants to take her home!"

"Errrr... she might not appreciate that," Satoshi laughed. 'Besides, it seems that Shion's job is to take people home, not the other way around.'

"Rena's right though," Mion laughed, "Compared to Shion, I'm like an old man..."

"That's right, nano desu," Rika giggled from a table away. "Mii the old man..."

Mion referred to herself as an old man for the rest of the day, thinking it was very funny. It didn't even let up during club activities, said activities resulting in Satoko scrubbing the school hallway in a maid outfit while Rena chased after her.

Satoshi's little sister looked a little uncomfortable uncomfortable, but seemed to be having fun nonetheless. Satoshi was just glad that Satoko was able to play with her friends like most little girls were able to.

After club activities, Satoshi walked back up to Okinomiya for work. The job was basic physical labor, in this case hammering nails into boards in the skeleton of a house the company was building. He did what they told him to, and he got points with the higher-ups that might or might not affect his paycheck, and by the end of two hours Satoshi was _tired_.

Worn out from a grating day of school and work, Satoshi trudged back to the apartment complex where Shion lived and up two flights of stairs, then knocked on the door.

It opened after the sound of scampering feet and an excited giggle. Shion opened the door with a smile on her face as the smell of what was probably dinner wafted toward Satoshi's nose.

"Welcome home-- Satoshi-kun, are you all right? You look so tired..."

"I guess I had what you'd call a rough day," Satoshi sighed as Shion grabbed his hand and led him inside.

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked quickly, taking Satoshi's bag and setting it down, closing the door behind her.

"... I don't remember the last time someone asked me that," Satoshi realized.

Shion sighed exasperatedly. "That's because the villagers are prejudiced towards Satoshi-kun because of his parents, when it's not even his fault... you never have to worry about that with me, Satoshi-kun. You're you, Satoshi-kun, and your life has been much too difficult so far for me, who loves you, not try and make it a little easier..."

"Shion, you need to work on this habit you have of saying to me everything I wish someone would say to me," Satoshi mumbled. "I'll be spoiled."

Shion giggled. "I'm only saying what I'm thinking, Satoshi-kun. If you don't like taking a break once in awhile that's not my problem. Now take your shoes off and come eat dinner, okay?"

Satoshi smiled. "As you wish."

.....................................

Satoshi lived the next three days in the same pattern: waking up next to Shion, going to school with a lunch she'd make for him, finding at school that his sister was still being mistreated but had less the amount of acquired bruises than the day before, going to club activities (and subsequently having to explain his maid-like state of dress to Shion when he went home on the second day), having the usual difficult time at work... finding once he got home to the small, quiet apartment, that none of it really mattered after an evening spent with Shion.

It baffled Satoshi how much effort she put into just making him comfortable, how highly she valued his opinion... how highly she valued him in general. It was a nice change of pace from being hated all the time, but it was also a little disorienting.

And all Satoshi had to do to make her happy was say he loved her. According to Shion, just the idea that Satoshi could love her was baffling.

"Shion, do you ever think that you're spoiling me just a little?" Satoshi chuckled over dinner on the third day.

Shion shook her head. "No, I think Satoshi-kun deserves it after all he's been through..."

"What I deserve is..." Satoshi looked down. "I don't deserve much."

The phrase_ 'I killed my aunt, after all,' _was left unsaid, but Shion clearly knew what he was talking about.

"Satoshi-kun, it was all you could do," Shion said quietly. "In the same situation, I probably would have done the same. ... Are you full, or would you like seconds?"

"Seconds, please."

................................

When Satoshi came home on the sixth day, still shaking glitter out of his hair from club activities, the first thing he noticed was an extra pair of shoes left by the door.

The second thing he noticed was that they were Mion's.

The third thing he noticed was the sound of someone crying in the kitchen.

"What are you going to do?" Mion's voice asked quietly. "Are you going to tell him?"

"I-- I suppose I'll have to..." Shion's voice was shaking, accompanied by sobs and hiccups. "B-better than keeping it a secret, right?"

The twin sisters both laughed weakly.

"I... really should have been smarter about this..." Shion mumbled. "Safer, too... sorry for calling you out like this, Sis."

"Not a problem," Mion said softly. "Get some rest, okay? You've had quite a shock..."

What happened? Why was Shion crying?

It was bad enough that Satoko cried all the time. If someone was causing trouble for Shion, too... Satoshi wasn't sure what he'd do.

"... I'm home," Satoshi called tentatively, taking a few steps towards the kitchen. "... Shion? Are you there? ... Are you all right?"

"W-welcome home, Satoshi-kun... funny, I didn't hear the door open..." Shion's head poked itself out from the kitchen doorway. The skin around her eyes was red and puffy, the eyes themselves leaking tears. "I'm... I'm sorry, I... I haven't started dinner yet because my sister was visiting..."

"I was just leaving, actually," Mion announced, walking out of the kitchen. "I don't mean to impose..."

"N-No, sis, you can stay if you want..." Shion's voice wavered.

"Is something wrong?" Satoshi asked quickly. "You look like you've been crying..."

"I'm... I'm fine!"

"No you're not."

"Nothing's... nothing's..." Shion shook her head. "I'm... I'm fine! I'll get dinner started..."

"You should tell him," Mion said quietly. "I'm leaving now so I get home in time for dinner, so that gives you time to talk to him."

She gave her sister a hug and left the house, passing Satoshi on the way. When she came within three feet or Satoshi, she looked at him sporting one of the most furious faces Satoshi had ever seen.

Why was Mion so angry? Except for killing his aunt, Satoshi hadn't done anything... except sleep with Mion's sister... several times... but Mion didn't know about that. Right?

Mion put her shoes on and left the house, glaring at Satoshi a second time before closing the door behind her.

Shion waved weakly at the closed door and sniffed a little.

"Now will you tell me what's wrong?" Satoshi asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It sounds like it's pretty serious..."

"It's... it's nothing..." Shion mumbled.

Satoshi looked her square in the eyes. "Are you sure?"

"It's... it's... it's..." Shion looked down at her feet. "It's nothing... I've got to get dinner started, so if you'll excuse--"

"No, Shion." Satoshi slung his free arm around Shion's waist and pulled her close. "I think we both know something's wrong here. You're usually an excellent liar, so if it's this hard for you to hide it must be something important. And if it's something that can make _you _cry, then I want to know, because then maybe I can do something to help you. Tell me what's wrong..."

"Satoshi-kun..." Shion buried her head in his shoulder, clinging to him tightly. "Satoshi-kun, I'm so sorry! I... I..."

"You... what?" Satoshi asked slowly. "Why are you sorry? Did you do something to Satoko? Again?"

Shion shook and started to cry. "I haven't done anything to Satoko! That's not it! Satoshi-kun, I'm... I'm..."

If it didn't have anything to do with Satoko, then why was Shion sorry? Shion hadn't done anything to Satoshi. "You're what, Shion? What is it?"

"P-P-Pregnant!" Shion sobbed.

................

_Pregnant_.

................

That certainly explained why Mion was there earlier. Then, Mion was angry because...

"... I'm the father?" Satoshi asked quietly. His voice wouldn't come out right, and it sounded more like a squeak than a question.

"Yes!" Shion said immediately. "Satoshi-kun, who else would the father be? Satoshi-kun is the only person I've ever even thought of sleeping wi--"

"--I know," said Satoshi quickly. "Just... checking. Oh, Shion..."

"Don't apologize," Shion whispered. "This is my fault. I didn't tell you to stop, I didn't secure a means of protection, I didn't even... realize I might be pregnant until Sis visited and found your clothes on the floor in my room... it's all my fault..."

"No, I'm the one who couldn't control myself," Satoshi argued. "And I'm equally at fault for not being careful. It's _my_ fault."

"My fault," Shion mumbled.

"My fault," Satoshi replied.

"My fault."

"My fault."

"My fault."

"My fault."

"No, it's my fault."

"... Does it really matter whose fault it is?" Satoshi sighed. "What we need to figure out now is what we're going to do about this."

Shion nodded slightly. "Does Satoshi-kun think we should or should not have the baby?" she asked waveringly.

"Shion, you're the one who has to have it if you want it," Satoshi decided. "So it's up to you."

"I..." Shion paused. "I'll have to think about it... Satoshi-kun, if, if I want the baby, what will you do?"

"I..." Satoshi's mind blanked. "I... I don't know... I guess..."

Satoshi and thought about it. No matter what Shion said, this was still all his fault. Completely, entirely his fault. What reaction would serve best to make Shion happy?

Obviously, he wasn't going to do the usual jerk-like thing and just leave her forever. Not when Shion cared about Satoshi as much as she did (which was more than he deserved, in his opinion, but still). With Shion, who had said more than once that Satoshi's love was the most important thing that ever happened to her, the only thing he could do was.... the thing that would make Shion happiest was...

"I'll stay with you," Satoshi whispered. "That seems the best thing to do, so I'll stay."

Shion looked up, her wet eyes crinkling a little at the bottom as she gave a very small, very fragile smile. "... Really? You're not going to leave me?"

"Never," Satoshi promised. "Muu... I mean... the baby should have both of its parents, right? If you really want it."

He laughed awkwardly, and gently rubbed the top of Shion's head with the hand that wasn't resting on her waist. "Right?"

"And... if I don't want the baby?" Shion asked. "I'm still not quite sure... what will you do then?"

Again, Satoshi said what he knew by now was what Shion wanted to hear. "I'll stay with you anyway. In... in case you want one later."

"You're serious, Satoshi-kun? You really mean it?"

"I really do." Satoshi buried his head in Shion's shoulder, holding her close with both arms. "Since I got you pregnant, the only thing to do, whether or not you had the baby, would be..."

"To stay," Shion mumbled. "Here. With me."

"Actually," Satoshi said slowly, "Most people would say that I'm now required to marry you."

A small, gasping noise came from the vicinity of Shion's throat. "Sa... Satoshi-kun... you'd do that? For me?"

"I think I should," Satoshi said quietly. "If you want me to. If you'll let me."

The brightness of Shion's subsequent smile cannot be described in words, but let us say that Satoshi was nearly blinded and the crinkling the smile caused at the corners of her eyes forced the tears that had collected there to spill out onto her cheek.

"Of course I will!" she exclaimed, squeezing Satoshi as tightly as she could. "Oh, Satoshi-kun..."

Satoshi chuckled. "You know... if someone told me twelve days ago that I was soon going to be verbally engaged to my classmate Mion's twin sister, I'd tell them they were crazy."

Shion giggled. "We have been moving awfully fast..."

"That we did," Satoshi sighed. "I guess we should have been a lot smarter... and I should have controlled myself. But... this is where we are now, and we're okay."

Shion nodded, smiling impossibly wider. "It's more than okay if I have Satoshi-kun with me. I... I wanted to marry Satoshi-kun eventually anyway... what's a couple years earlier going to hurt?"

"For one, I don't think your family is going to like it," Satoshi muttered. "And Kasai said he'd kill me if I made you cry... and... you cried..."

"I only cried because I thought you'd be angry with me," whispered Shion. "I was scared. But... I don't think that's your fault."

"It is," Satoshi argued, squeezing Shion a little tighter, "But if me staying with you is what will make you happy, then I'll do it, and maybe someday I'll forgive myself for not thinking about how you might feel."

"It's not your fault," Shion said.

"It is too."

"Is not."

"Is so."

Shion rolled her eyes. "Is not. Listen to us, we sound like kids."

"We are kids," Satoshi replied, "We just happen to be having a kid as well."

"Unless I decide not to," Shion mumbled. "... I still need to make dinner."

She started to break away from Satoshi's grip, but he only pulled her back.

"I think, under the circumstances, we can order takeout." Satoshi smiled and kissed Shion's forehead. "Okay?"

"Okay..."

That night, Satoshi kissed Shion softly and held her like he was afraid she would break, because he'd realized just how fragile she was.

"Satoshi-kun..." She murmured, running a hand through his hair, "I think I'm going to have the baby."

"All right," Satoshi replied.

He thought about what this implied for him.

"I'll look into getting a better job... it's time I started pulling my own weight around here. Besides, we'll need more money if we're going to support a baby..."

"But Satoshi-kun," Shion protested drowsily, "Then you won't be able to go back to baseball..."

After having said this, she fell asleep in Satoshi's arms, leaving him to think that unhappy thought over. Just before he fell into his dreams, he could have sworn he saw a shadow near the ceiling, watching them.

............

"Good morning, Satoshi-kun," Shion yawned as Satoshi rolled out of bed. "You're up early..."

"I thought I'd make our breakfast and lunches today," Satoshi explained. "And good morning. How are my two favorite people today?"

Shion blinked. "Wha... I don't get it, Satoshi-kun..."

Satoshi leaned over and kissed Shion on the forehead, then patted her stomache.

"Oh..." She blushed. "We're fine."

Satoshi smiled and left the room.

On entering the kitchen, Satoshi collapsed into a chair.

_'How am I going to do this?'_ he thought. _'A father... I don't know anything about this... how can I protect Shion and a baby from anything that puts them in danger when I can't even protect my sister from my uncle?'_

He stood up and started cooking, hoping he wouldn't ruin Shion's food on top of everything else he'd done to hurt her.

_'Even if she can trick herself into being happy... I've really ruined her life. We're only sixteen, and we'll be only seventeen when the baby is born... I admire Shion for being mature enough to sustain herself, but making her worry about raising a family is... is terrible. I'm terrible for doing this to her. But she's not even angry at me...'_

Satoshi finished making the lunches and a passable breakfast and went to find Shion. He found her in the bathroom, glaring into the mirror with both hands supporting most of her weight on the edges of the sink.

She was whispering something under her breath as she stared at her own reflection. It seemed almost as if she was having a conversation with herself, but Satoshi couldn't hear well enough to know what she was talking about. Her expression grew more and more frustrated as her eyes grew narrower and narrower, as her frantic whispering got angrier and angrier.

Finally, she stared at herself long and hard in the mirror. She looked halfway between wanting to shatter it and wanting to cry.

"SHUT UP!" She shrieked at her reflection.

"... Shion, are you all right?" Satoshi asked quietly. Shion turned around making an expression very like a frog when you shine a flashlight into its eyes in the dark (sort of like a deer in the headlights, only greener).

"I'm fine," she said quickly, fixing a fake a smile on her face. "Did... did Satoshi-kun need something?"

"No, just... breakfast is ready..." Satoshi said quietly, the lines over his brow etched with worry. "You should come eat if before it gets too cold..."

"All right," Shion said. "What did you make, Satoshi-kun?" She seemed genuinely curious, like it was something that truly mattered (actually, since it was Shion, it probably did).

"Don't get all excited," Satoshi chuckled. "It's just omellete..."

....................................

When Satoshi got to school, Mion shot him a glare similar to the one he'd received the night before.

"How's my baby sister?" She asked false-sweetly. "She was crying last time I saw her, you know..."

"Really? She was smiling last time I saw her," Satoshi mused, trying to ignore the quiet rage wafting off of his friend. "She stopped crying around the time I told her I'd do the responsible thing and raise the baby with her."

Just then, Satoko entered the classroom. "What baby?"

Satoshi froze. "Ah, Satoko..."

"Satoshi's been living with my sister," Mion cut in sharply. "My twin sister Shion."

"You mean his girlfriend?" Satoko asked. She smiled sadly. "Oh, that's good. At least Nii Nii is probably happy where he is, then--"

"He got her pregnant, Satoko," Mion continued. "Do you know what that means?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I know what 'pregnant' is, Mion-san. I even know where babies come from. I'm not that little-- Wait... Nii Nii, did you... you... you and Shion-san...?!? You did _**that**_?"

Unable to do anything else, Satoshi nodded dumbly.

Satoko made a disturbed expression. "You... you'll have to marry her now, and raise the baby... and keep living with her, even though our uncle left yesterday... of course, a burden to you like me won't be... won't be allowed..."

"You're not a burden," Satoshi said quickly, crossing the room and wrapping his arms around her. "I... I'm not going to abandon you, Satoko... it'll all work out... all right? I'll... I'll figure something... something out..."

Satoko looked up, the smallest glimmer of hope seeping into the depths of her eyes. "Really, Nii Nii?"

"Really," Satoshi said, ruffling her hair.

'I don't know what to do,' he thought. 'Maybe...'

.....................

"I guess we could let her stay with us," Shion sighed, absentmindedly turning the page in her copy of _Interview With the Vampire _and burrowing farther under the covers. "If that's what Satoshi-kun wants..."

"I don't think there's anywhere else she could stay," Satoshi pointed out. "And, she is little my sister, after all..."

"I suppose she is," Shion said slowly, "But.. Satoshi-kun, if she causes you trouble..."

"She's my little sister," Satoshi repeated. "Not baggage."

"I know, but... you seemed so stressed before when you had to protect her..." Shion trailed off, closed her book. "Are you sure you'll be...?"

"I'm fine," Satoshi laughed. "I'm with you, aren't I?"

It wasn't something Satoshi absolutely had to say, but he knew it was something Shion needed to hear.

Shion smiled worriedly. "And... the baby and I aren't burdens either, right?"

"Of course not!" Satoshi gasped. "Why would I...?"

"I was glad you could be here and not have to worry about Satoko all the time," Shion mumbled. "But now, I'm causing you to use energy and when the baby's born that'll be even more to worry about..."

Satoshi tried to smile, raised his hand and ruffled the hair on the top of Shion's head. "I'll be fine... "

_'You know me too well, Shion.'_

"Satoko's birthday is tomorrow," Shion noted. "You should tell her then. Did you get enough for the teddy bear?"

"I did," Satoshi said, "Thanks for reminding me."

"Anything I can do for you?" Shion asked, putting and arm around Satoshi's shoulders.

"No, Shion," Satoshi sighed, "I think you've done more for me than you've had to already."

"I'd do anything for you, Satoshi-kun," Shion said sleepily.

.............................

On the morning of Satoko's birthday, her older brother could be found withdrawing all of his savings and cashing his most recent paycheck.

He pocketed the cash and headed for the train station.

_'All I ever do is cause more problems for the people I love,' _he thought. _'If I remove the problem...'_

Satoshi sat at the station until a train came in, and got on it.

_'It's really for the best,' _he told himself._ 'I would've been a terrible father. I wouldn't have been able to support Satoko anyway. I should have left sooner--'_

There was a pattering noise, as if something was walking towards Satoshi, or following him.

_'That's rediculous. I'm sitting down, how could someone be following me if I'm not moving--'_

Satoshi looked out the window. There was a shadow outside, flying after the train. As the train gained momentum, the shadow kept up and the footsteps got louder, faster...

_'... It is following me. What is it? Why is it following me?'_

Then, Satoshi remembered.

_'Rena said... if there's footsteps following you, then...'_

He peered out his window at the shadow. It looked like the one he'd seen two nights ago, lurking near the ceiling. He'd thought it was his mind playing tricks on him because he was tired, but...

_'Oyashiro-sama...?' _Satoshi's eyes widened in fear. _'No... it couldn't be...'_

It had to be.

Satoshi pressed his face to the glass. "Leave me alone..." he whispered. "I... I haven't done anything I shouldn't have..."

_'Have you?' _the shadow seemed to ask.

Satoshi shivered and turned away from the shadow. "I'm doing the right thing," he muttered. "There's no way Oyashiro-sama could follow me all the way to Tokyo anyway..."

The train stopped, and a little girl and a woman that was presumably her mother sat down on the bench across from Satoshi.

"Mommy," the little girl asked quietly, "Where did Daddy go?"

"I don't know, honey," the woman said, her voice breaking. "We're... we're going to look for him in the city."

"If we can find him, will Daddy come back?"

"I don't know, sweetheart. Maybe. He--- he could be dead for all I know..."

"Dead...?" The little girl squeaked. "Why? Daddy said he'd come home and take me to the park..."

"Daddy had a lot of trouble with money, dear. He... he said he... _wanted_ to..."

"Daddy wanted to die?!? But... he said... he said he'd take me..."

"I know, but he might not be able to--" the woman stopped talking to glare at Satoshi, who had been watching them.

Satoshi turned his head away from the family, but he kept an ear out in case they kept talking.

"Mommy..." the little girl started to cry. "Is it my fault? Does Daddy hate me?"

Just then, the train skidded to a stop. Satoshi stood up and walked out determinedly.

He bought a ticket to go the other direction and went back to Okinomiya.

When he arrived at the station, he ran off of the train and all the way to Cafe Angel Morte.

..................

Shion was waiting tables when Satoshi ran in.

"Shion...!"

"Satoshi-kun?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing he--"

Shion's sentence was cut off by what may have been the biggest hug she had ever received.

"Is something wrong, Satoshi-kun?" the empty tray she was holding slipped out of her hand and clattered to the floor.

"No, Shion, nothing's wrong," Satoshi said. "… I love you. Listen, I'm going to bring my sister her birthday present, and then I'm going to spend some time with her and tell her we'll all live together somehow. Then, I'm going to come home, and if you make me some tea _I'll _make dinner..."

"Okay, Satoshi-kun," Shion tittered nervously. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"I'm fine, Shion," Satoshi chuckled. "I feel great. I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

"Okay, Satoshi-kun. You can let go of me now," she giggled. "Everyone's watching."

"... Oh. Right." He let go, kissed her quickly, and was out the door again.

He thought he might have heard some cheering from the group at table seven, but it was probably just his imagination.

.........

Satoshi walked into the toy store. "Excuse me, I reserved..."

"Ah, yes, I remember you. Do you have enough?"

"I think so."

The man behind the counter brought out the teddy bear out and sold it to Satoshi. Somehow, even though Satoshi had bought two one-way train tickets that day, there was enough money left over to buy it for his sister.

_'I bought the bear,' _he thought. _'I did what I said I would with the money I earned. I spent the money the way I was supposed to, I didn't leave and spend it on living expenses because I'm not abandoning my sister. Everything's okay now…'_

Satoshi hefted the bear outside. _'It's heavy… I guess I'll have to carry it all the way back to Hinamizawa. Unless…'_

He carried the bear to the nearest pay phone, shifted it to one arm, and called the Irie Clinic.

"Hello, this is Houjo speaking…"

"Satoshi? What is it? Is something wrong?" it was Doctor Irie.

"No, just… I got the doll for Satoko."

"That's good to hear, Satoshi. She'll be glad."

Satoshi nodded to himself. "I hope so. But, it's kind of heavy… could I have a lift back to Hinamizawa? I don't want to drop it or anything…"

"Of course, you can… I'll be right over. Where are you?"

Fifteen minutes later found Satoshi sitting in an air-conditioned car with the doctor at the wheel.

"I'm glad you got it for her, Satoshi," Irie said quietly. "I can't wait to see her smiling again..."

"Me neither," Satoshi murmured. "With this… I've made up for everything I've done, right?"

"… You haven't done anything wrong, Satoshi," Irie said slowly.

"Of course not," Satoshi laughed. "I… I've got a clean slate…"

There was silence in the car until something Satoshi saw out the window made him gasp.

"Coach… my aunt is dead, right? Really, really gone?"

Irie paused. "Yes, Satoshi. Your aunt is dead."

"Then… why does that woman out there look like her so much?"

"She doesn't, Satoshi."

"Yes, she does! And… so does that one… and her… and her too..."

Suddenly, Satoshi's aunt was _everywhere_. Every female Satoshi saw out the car window was his aunt. She turned to glare at him a hundred times, and then to fall over, blood spurting from her body, over and over again.

Somewhere under Satoshi's skin, he started to itch.

"It's… Oyashiro-sama…" he realized aloud. "For the things I've done…"

"Don't scratch!" Irie gasped. Satoshi hadn't even noticed he'd been scratching.

He continued to do so. "So itchy… it's my fault, I've done awful things… I abandoned my sister… and Shion… how could I… why did I… why… no wonder I've been cursed…"

"You haven't been cursed, Satoshi. Don't scratch," said Irie in the calm voice that doctors use only with mental patients. He drove out of Okinomiya and went faster.

"Oyashiro-sama cursed me!" Satoshi argued. "He followed me around, and he went away and let me think everything would be all right, but he's come back now, and he's going to take me away…"

"You're going to be all right, Satoshi," Irie replied, pushing his gas pedal all the way to the floor of his car. "You're not cursed, you're ill. You need medicine..."

"I'm cursed!" Satoshi yelled. "Oyashiro-sama is punishing me for what I've done! Rena, Rena said if I repented, it would stop… but it hasn't… what more can I do? Stop this, Oyashiro-sama!"

Satoshi scratched harder, and broke through his skin with his freshly bitten, jagged fingernails. "Get… out… of… my… body… you… little… bastards…"

As Satoshi tore at his wrist, the car came to a screeching halt in front of the Irie clinic. Men dressed all in black came out and pulled Satoshi out of a car, and carried him towards the building.

"_Let go of me!_" Satoshi screamed. "_Let go of me! Who are you? Let go! Let go! Put me down! I have to give that bear to my sister! Where are you taking me? Coach! Coach! Help!_"

But Doctor Irie ran right past the men in black, almost as if he was leading the way.

Satoshi saw him open a door in the side of the clinic with a password just as something sharp was rammed into his arm and everything went black...

----

_If you leave me, I will follow you_

_And bring you back where you belong_

_'Cause I couldn't really stand it, I'd admit that I was wrong_

_I couldn't let you leave because it's true_

_You like me too much and I like you..._

_I really do_

_----_

(authornotes)

FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER. DARN I GOT STUCK SO MANY TIMES… like every five or six pages. Of which this chapter has… 32 and 1/2.

For those of you who were tempted to click "back" at the mention of teenaged pregnancy, I'd like you to consider a few things...

1) Stuff that shouldn't happen or make sense happens and supposedly makes sense in Higurashi ALL THE TIME. Like Rika's hormones keeping the village from going insane (pfffff they'll all be sane when she's a teenager) and the Alien Parasites Theory. Also, Hanyuu. Period.

2) Shion would have five of Satoshi's babies_ twice_ if he asked her. She's OBSESSED with him. For further reference, consult Meakashi-hen.

3) Teenaged hormones. Satoshi is the "nice guy" in the series, but he's still sixteen/seventeen and a guy. Sorry.

please don't make fun of me for not being able to write insanity scenes. I am fully aware of my status as a fluffmonkey. Also, this is the first fic I've written that I've really taken seriously.

(/authornotes)


	4. Don't Pass Me By

_Waiting for your footsteps_

_Coming up the drive_

_Waiting for your footsteps_

_But they don't arrive_

_Waiting for you knock, dear, on my old front door_

_I don't hear it; does it mean_

_You don't love me anymore?_

..…..……..….

"Satoshi-kun should be getting home soon…" Shion murmured, looking at the clock, which read eight-thirty, and the sky outside, which was exactly the color of orange sherbet. "Shouldn't he?"

"He _is_ with his sister. He's probably having fun over there, and forgot he said he'd be home for dinner…"

'_Maybe he didn't want to come home. Or maybe this isn't his home. Where his sister is should be home, right?'_

The Voice was back.

"Shut up," Shion said quietly. "I don't need you making snide comments about Satoshi-kun and how you think he doesn't love me. He does. He said so, you know. And he's going to come home soon, too. Satoshi-kun doesn't lie to me, and he keeps his promises."

_'Keep telling yourself that.'_

Shion rolled her eyes and got up. "He'll be home soon, I'm sure. I should put the kettle on so I have tea ready when he gets here," she told herself.

All too soon, Shion found herself sipping a cold cup of orange pekoe alone.

"I'll put on another kettle on low," she told herself. "Satoshi-kun will be back before his cup is cold…"

It was a cup of tea exactly the way Satoshi liked it. Ginger tea with a tablespoon of honey, a small dash of milk, and even a few cookies on a little china plate.

He didn't come to drink it. The liquid inside Satoshi's favorite mug grew lukewarm, then cool, then nearly frigid…

Shion wearily raised her head from the table and vaguely recognized that she might have fallen asleep. Next to her were a few cookies and a mug full of ginger tea, drops of water clinging to its sides due to condensation.

"Satoshi-kun, your tea is cold," She called to the empty apartment. "I'll make you another one, so you'd better come drink it or I'll drink it for you. All right?"

There was no response.

_'_"Maybe he slept over at Satoko's place," Shion murmured. "… No, Satoshi-kun said he'd be home. He'll be home. I'll make him some more tea…"

..…..…..…..……….

Mion was worried. Her parents had received a call claiming her sister hadn't come to school that day, and was she not feeling well? Satoshi hadn't come to school either. Of course, this made perfect sense-- the way he and Shion had been behaving, any sickness one caught would without a doubt be passed on to the other.

Mion giggled, remembering a conversation she'd had with Shion over the phone two days ago. She was so _happy_ with Satoshi, to the point that Mion wondered if Satoshi ever found her just a little bit creepy or possessive.

But he'd seemed too enthralled with her himself to notice last time they'd talked.

Apparently, even enthralled enough to miss his sister's birthday party. Maybe he was already sick then? Maybe too sick to call ahead and say he couldn't make it, or had fallen asleep to get some much-needed rest …

Still, he should've called later to apologize for missing the party, to say he couldn't come to school. Satoko had come to school with a face that looked like it had recently been crying. She hadn't spoken in school unless spoken directly to, in which case the questioner was granted a few mumbled words and a downcast expression; she had even dropped out of club activities for the day, saying quietly that she would rather just go home and eat the last of her birthday cake.

Why was Satoshi avoiding his sister? Mion wondered.

_'Well… I suppose the only thing to do would be to visit and find out…'_

..…..……………..

She knocked on the door to Shion's apartment, and found no reply. When she tried the door, she found it unlocked, and quietly entered. Maybe they were asleep.

"Shion?" Mion called quietly. "Satoshi? Are you two sick again?"

There was no one in Shion's room, or the closet--- umm, guest room. Shion's bed was neatly made, and yesterday's page hadn't been taken off the calendar.

"Hello?" Mion called again. No reply. Worried, she headed for the kitchen…

An empty box that advertised to have once contained thirty-six packets of ginger tea was on the floor. Not too far from it, there was another box that had once contained darjeeling.

There were teacups and mugs all over the table in the center of the room. Some of them were empty except for a few dregs in the bottom, some were half-full, and some were still untouched. None of them were still warm enough that steam rose from them, as if Shion had prepared them hours ago.

Shion herself was snoring on the floor, her position and the shattered teacup beside her suggesting that she'd fallen out of her chair. Mion kneeled down and gently shook her.

"Shion, wake up!"

"Mrrgggghhh… Onee?" Shion wearily opened one eye. "Why am I on the floor? Is Satoshi-kun back yet?"

"I think you fell asleep at the table and fell over," Mion chuckled. "You shattered your Star Wars mug."

Shion's face took on a sheen of horror. "The Star Wars mug is Satoshi-kun's," she whispered. "He'll hate me for this, Onee… m-maybe that's why he hasn't come home yet… maybe he somehow knew and decided to stay at Satoko's house forever…"

"Actually, I wanted to ask about that," Mion said. "Satoshi didn't come to Satoko's party, and he wasn't in school today. Is he sick?"

"No…" Shion said. "Not that I would know… he… hasn't come home yet… wait. What do you mean 'wasn't in school today'? Last time I looked at the clock, it was only five-thirty AM…"

"And then you fell asleep," Mion said. "… Wait, are you saying you were waiting for him until _five-thirty in the morning?_"

"Satoshi said if I made tea for him when he came home, he'd make dinner," Shion mumbled. "Then it got late and he didn't show. But… then the tea got cold… so I made another one…"

"And another one, and another one," Mion noted, gesturing towards the table. "Quite a mess you've got there… how many boxes of tea did you you through, Shion?"

"Two and a half…"

Mion sighed. "Let's clean this up. Satoshi will worry if he finds out you lost sleep over him."

"Right."

"… Wait, so… you haven't seen him since yesterday?" Mion asked.

"I haven't," Shion said, picking up a half-full cup of tea and dumping it down the sink. "I thought he was still over at Satoko's house, but… he didn't go to the party?"

"He didn't," Mion replied. "I haven't seen him since school got out last week, Shion."

"I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon…" Shion's voice was shrinking. "He showed up at Angel Morte and gave me a big hug for no reason, then said he was going to see his sister and that's the last I saw of… of him…"

The twins looked each other in the eye.

"This isn't good," they said at the same time.

"I'm going to the toy shop to see if Satoshi-kun got the bear, and then I'm going to the police," Shion said hurriedly, running to the door and putting her shoes on.

Mion followed her. "I'm going to ask Grandma…"

Shion paused. "That Onibaba wouldn't know where Satoshi-kun is unless… unless..."

"That's not what I mean!" Mion said quickly. "Grandma is highly connected to the underworld! If he was kidnapped or something, she could find out!"

"That Onibaba doesn't care about Satoshi-kun," Shion spat.

"I do," Mion said. "Maybe I can get her help."

She ran out the door towards Hinamizawa, leaving Shion alone with her thoughts.

…..…..

Quickly, Shion pulled her shoes on and all but ran to the toy store. When she got to the window, she found the large teddy bear usually sitting behind it to be missing.

"So you got the bear, Satoshi-kun," Shion whispered. "Congratulations."

_'But he never went to Satoko's party… so where did he…?'_

Shion ran from the store to Angel Morte, and from there walked the route she knew he used to Hinamizawa. Maybe he'd fell down and was horribly injured, or had fallen asleep on the road?

She found no sign of him, from any of the routes he might have taken or by yelling for him in front of the empty Houjo house (Satoko wasn't there at the moment). Looking up at the open window on the second story, she decided to sneak in.

After a good ten minutes of scrambling up a tree and reaching for the window, Shion was in what looked to be Satoko's room. It was nearly barren and meticulously clean, the only thing on the floor being a shattered lamp, a broom and a half-full dustpan.

Shion quietly exited the room and crept down the hall, opening the next door to see what (and hopefully, who) was there.

Satoshi wasn't there, but it was clearly his room. There was a baseball poster from a few years back on the wall, a few interesting books on a small bookshelf, and old, faded plastic toys on the shelf a memory of Satoshi's childhood. There was a picture frame on the nightstand, the picture inside containing a much younger Satoshi and Satoko with a woman that Shion assumed was their mother. Sitting next to it was a facedown photograph with a note on the exposed backside in Mion's handwriting. All it said was, '_Told you so_._ Guess! Which one is which?_'

Shion turned the picture over and found it was of herself and Mion a few days before she left for St. Lucia's Academy. They were smiling and wearing aprons, their faces covered in flour. Shion faintly recalled baking cookies that day, and wondered when Satoshi had asked about her urgently enough that Mion had given him a picture.

She smiled bitterly. If he was that eager to know more about her, he should be with her, asking. Where was he?

That was when Shion heard a creak in the floorboards below her.

The creaking continued across the downstairs floor and up the stairs, when suddenly a soft, unexpected thumping noise sounded, followed by a man's voice using obscene words at the highest possible volume.

It could only be Satoshi's uncle. Shion froze and found herself diving into Satoshi's closet (which, in case you were wondering, was not refurbished as a guest room but was full of clothes, books, and old board games) and holding her breath.

"Satoko!" Teppei yelled. "Where's the damn band-aids?" The large man thudded, by the sound of it, down the hallway and into Satoko's room. "Where are you? Don't tell me you're hiding again…"

The thudding went back into the hallway and there was a slamming noise, as if Satoshi's bedroom door was a cause for personal anguish for Teppei.

"I know you're in here," Teppei growled, "You'd better come out or it'll only be worse for you…"

Thudding noise went around the room as Shion positioned herself behind the bathrobe that hung off of the clothes hanger rod. As Teppei's footsteps grew louder, Shion found herself unable to breath. And slowly, the door opened, as Shion realized that her shoes would be completely visible to him.

"Satoko… come out…"

Shion stayed as still as possible, waiting for the inevitable, but after a few seconds the door slammed shut again and Teppei's footsteps thudded away.

_'Satoshi-kun… you're not even with me, but you saved me through this bathrobe…' _there was no telling what Teppei would have done if he'd found Shion trespassing in 'his' house. Shion wrapped her arms around her terry cloth savior and hugged it close.

She noticed it smelled like him, like cinnamon and baseball gloves and something Shion couldn't quite place that only Satoshi had. She breathed in the scent again, before quietly leaving the closet and closing the door behind her. Following this, she cautiously walked down the hall and back into Satoko's room, climbing out the window and back down to the ground before breaking into a run for Okinomiya. What if Satoshi was back already, and was wondering where she was?

..….

He wasn't. Nor was he the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Shion still went to work and to school, because Satoshi would know where to find her at those places, but other than that and to buy food to keep herself alive, Shion sat at home by the teakettle and waited. She slept at the kitchen table, using uncompleted homework assignments and books, or her own arms as pillows.

She felt nauseated in the morning, but by the time she got to school it was usually passed. During the hours of school, and even at work, she only spoke when necessary , and snapped out at anyone who said something offensive (which was often). When she finally got home at night, the meals purchased the day before tasted rotten, and Shion would leave the house and buy five servings of whatever her brain told her was a necessity.

Sitting alone by the kitchen table, having consumed three of the five servings, etching the answers into her homework sheets, she felt nothing. But, on the tenth day of this seemingly endless cycle, a knock sounded at the door.

Shion gasped and ran to answer it. It was Satoshi! It had to be. He'd been gone nearly two weeks, and he had better have had a good reason to be this late for dinner twelve days ago. She slammed the door open and prepared to throw her arms around him…

Only to skid to a halt mid-pounce and fall directly into Officer Ooishi.

"Sonozaki Shion," the police officer said amusedly. "I suppose you thought I was somebody else?"

"I did," Shion mumbled, taking a step away from Ooishi. "My apologies."

_'This man tried to arrest Satoshi-kun,' _Shion remembered. _'He can't be up to any good.'_

"I'm told that Houjo Satoshi lives here," Ooishi drawled. "Is this true?"

Shion nodded slowly. "Yes, but…"

"He hasn't been home in awhile?"

Shion gasped. "How did you know that?"

"He hasn't been in school," Ooishi explained.

"I knew that, but… he's coming home soon. This isn't any of your business," Shion said slowly, glaring at Ooishi.

"I'm sure, I'm sure," Ooishi laughed condescendingly. "Then I'm assuming you knew that the last day he was seen, he withdrew the entire contents of his savings account from the bank?"

"He was saving up," Shion said slowly, "To get a birthday present for his little sister. He had just enough on her birthday, he said. Maybe he thought he should bring all of the money with him to buy it, just in case?"

_'But then he would have put some back,' _said a sickeningly familiar voice in the back of Shion's head. _'He said he was going to marry you, right?'_

"That could be true," Ooishi said, "But his sister says he never came to give it to her."

"I know that…"

"But he _was_ seen boarding a train at Okinomiya Station." Ooishi smirked. "I suppose you didn't know that either?"

"Maybe they moved the present to another store, to put it on display there, and he went to go get it!" Shion heard herself say, though she wasn't sure she believed it.

"What do you need Satoshi-kun for anyway? Another hearing?"

"Oh, no," Ooishi chuckled, "We're just worried about him, you know. If we can't find him in Tokyo hiding from his… _unfortunate_ family situation, it might just be that he was the second half of this year's curse of Oyashiro-sama."

_'Hiding in Tokyo? No, no, he… he wouldn't…'_

..….

"Satoshi-kun wouldn't really leave us alone like this, would he?" Shion asked quietly.

_'He might,' _the voice chuckled, _'We were asking a lot from him. Quit baseball, stay with us forever, throw away his future career-- whatever that was going to be-- give us all his attention, love us, hold us--'_

"Those are things any girl would want!" Shion objected, pounding her fist on the table. "And some of those things aren't too difficult… right?"

_'True, but…'_

"But?"

_'Maybe he intended to spend that money to leave Hinamizawa from the start.'_

"But… with us, would his mind have--"

_'He used us, Shion. He doesn't love us. His only intention was to sleep here, and then when you seemed fine with him sleeping __**with you**__, he took advantage of--'_

"SHUT UP!" Shion screamed, "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Satoshi-kun really, truly cares about us-- no, about me! You're not even a part of this, so don't talk to me! He always made us feel better about everything…"

_'In other words, you were a burden to him?'_

"Burden!" Shion gasped. "We gave him a place to stay, and loved him when no one else would or could! Without us, he could have easily left long ago!"

_'So you're sure he didn't leave us on his own?'_

"Absolutely," Shion said proudly.

_'Then where is he?' _

A second knock sounded on the door, lighter than the time three days ago when Ooishi had come.

"Shion! Are you there?"

Shion went over to open the door, knowing it was her twin sister.

"… Hey." Mion greeted nervously with a wave and held up a paper box. "Can I come in? I brought cake…"

Shion's stomach grumbled. "Is it chocolate?"

"The icing is."

"… Come in, Onee."

Mion laughed. "Shion, are you only interested in the cake and not my company? Because I could just leave this here and go my merry way, you know--"

"No, No, come in, sit down!" Shion grinned slightly. "I couldn't finish the whole thing by myself, anyway, right?"

"You're awful," Mion snickered, entering and closing the door behind her.

The girls both laughed, Mion a bit more genuinely and with more volume. Shion smiled as best as she could and took the cake, then ran into the kitchen with it, causing more laughter from her guest.

She cut the cake and brought it to her table, pushing the cold, half-empty teacups to the side, the moving them to the counter altogether.

_'If Satoshi-kun comes back now, he can wait twenty minutes for the water to boil,' _Shion thought.She got some teriyaki sauce from the fridge and drizzled it over her slice of cake, noticing the slightly horrified expression Mion made when she did so.

"Shion, that's--"

"I know what it is," Shion said. She took a bite. "And it's delicious. Do you want some?"

"I'm fine," Mion said. She nibbled at her own cake quietly, as if she was unsure of what to say. Shion couldn't think of an interesting avenue of conversation either, so she continued to eat her slice of cake, followed by her second slice of cake, and her third, and her fourth…

Finally, Mion spoke up. "Shion… how are your nails?"

"Better," Shion sighed. She looked down at the bandaging on her fingers. "But they haven't grown all the way back yet, so I don't like showing them to anyone."

"I see," Mion mumbled. "Umm… I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I really like what you've done with this place."

It was a feeble attempt at conversation, but the silence was unbearable, so Shion answered: "Thanks, I guess… I borrowed a lot of the furniture from Kasai, actually… I should look into getting my own…"

"Ah, shouldn't you be saving your money for other things?" Mion asked, eyeing the sixth piece of teriyaki-laced cake that Shion was consuming.

"… I'll make it work somehow," Shion mumbled. She put a hand over her stomach. "When, when the father comes back, we'll… we'll… "

"I wonder where he went," Mion sighed. "Disappearing out of the blue like that… what happened to him?"

The voice was loud, almost vibrating in Shion's skull. _**'It might just be that he was the second half of this year's curse of Oyashiro-sama. Remember?' **_

__Of course. It all made sense. But if that was the case, then the perpetrator was…

"_YOU!_" Shion let half-over, half-into the small table and knocked Mion to the ground. "You should know very well what happened to Satoshi-kun!"

She was over Mion, her hands at her sister's throat, rage burning somewhere in her chest cavity. Mion gasped out of shock and lack of oxygen, trying to wriggle away

"You… you demoned him away, didn't you!" Her grip tightened. The soft side of her fingers pressed against her nails, causing pain in the three that were not quite back yet. "Give him _back, _you filthy Main House whore, you _murderer, _you sick-minded little-- GIVE HIM BACK! Give me my Satoshi-kun back! Murderer, whore, sick-minded frea--"

Mion's hands came up and tried to pull Shion's away from her throat. Three fingers on the left hand were bandaged just like Shion's…

"Onee?" Shion whispered. Her hold on Mion's throat loosened a little. "Why… why do you have those same wounds?"

Upon closer inspection, Mion was crying.

"Why is it always you, Shion? Why are _you_ the one who always gets hurt? It should be the same for both of us, it should be… b-because we're identical twins…"

Mion tried to say something else, but only sobs came. Shion slowly let go of her, tears collecting in her eyes as well. She got off of her sister, who sat up and gave her a hug.

And they both cried for Satoshi.

_'Onee… loves him too,' _Shion thought, _'Maybe not the same way I do, but she's hurting almost as badly…'_

_ 'Maybe she wasn't the one who took Satoshi,' _The voice told Shion. _'They wouldn't have told her. We can forgive Mion, because she doesn't know.'_

_ 'Who are you?' _Shion asked the voice.

The voice paused.

_'Mion has something carved into her back, but I'm carved into your heart.'_

_ 'What?'_

_ 'In other words, I am… your demon.'_

_..…..……._

_Hear the clock a'ticking_

_On the mantle shelf_

_See the hands are moving_

_But I'm by myself_

_Wonder where you are tonight_

_And why I'm by myself…_

_I don't see you_

_Does it mean you don't love me anymore?_

_..…..………._

(authornotes)

I apologize for taking so long to write this thing. Truthfully, I was going to make this chapter longer, but…

1) If I did, there would be two "epiphany" moments

2) This chapter is already eleven pages long (I know the last one was a lot longer, but I think this chapter is as long as it needs to be).

3) I like this stopping point.

4) I wanted to post something for this fic. Sometimes when I'm bored, I go back and, um, reread the reviews, and some of them make me feel awful for not having the next chapter ready (Mindofamaniac, I'm looking at you).

I'll try to write these things faster.

Has anyone noticed my period-accurate pop culture references? Nothing mentioned in this fic hasn't made sense for 1983, or '82 which is where the fic is now. Or at least to the eighties. I'm not sure if the Brady Bunch was airing yet in '82.

Well, if there's any anachronism here, it's close.

Thanks for reading and putting up with my slow updating pace. If you're not too upset by this, could you maybe tell me what you thought of this chapter? Yes? I'd appreciate it...

(/authornotes)


	5. Somewhere They Can't Find Me

_All my life seems unreal,_

_My crime an illusion_

_A scene badly written which I must play_

_And though it puts me uptight to leave you_

_Alone it's not right to leave you_

..…..……..

It was dark and cold. After a long while, Satoshi realized this was because his eyes were closed and the air conditioning was on too high. Also, whoever had put him here hadn't thought to give him a blanket.

Where was 'here'? Wherever it was, he'd been here far too long…

There was a soft creaking noise, probably the door of wherever this was. Had the men in black come back to kill him once and for all?

Maybe it was his aunt. Fear flooded Satoshi's mind. Was he already dead, then? Was he stuck with that woman in his own personal hell?

Someone spoke, a woman's voice that was only vaguely familiar. "His heart rate seems to be higher today, chief."

The sound of two pairs of footsteps came closer, then around Satoshi.

"His brainwaves are more active too. Maybe he can hear now, Chief Irie?"

'_Takano!'_ Satoshi remembered now. It was the head nurse from Irie Clinic, the one who had always looked at Satoko in a way that sent shivers up Satoshi's spine. And she'd referred to his baseball coach, Doctor Irie, as 'chief'?

"Possibly," said the Doctor's voice. "Can you, Satoshi?"

Satoshi tried to say something, to move, to open his eyes, anything, but then he realized he couldn't. There was a heavy weight over his eyelids, his throat, his limbs, all of him, that kept him from moving.

"Don't be silly, Chief," Takano giggled, "He's under much too much anesthesia to show any signs of life. In fact, I looked over his condition again, and part of the coma seems to be self-induced."

"Self-induced?" Doctor Irie asked. "Why?"

_'Yes, why?' _Satoshi thought.

"It was probably the fear," Takano explained. "Fear or shock from whatever he thought he saw."

"Ah," said Doctor Irie, "That could be the case. Thank you, Major."

Since when did Takano have a position in the army?

"Poor boy," the apparent Major giggled darkly, "You know, his little slut of a girlfriend went and got pregnant? What an awful way to behave when everybody thinks he's dead…"

_'She was pregnant before I ended up here,' _Satoshi wanted to say, _'It's my baby-- wait, what?_

_ 'Everybody thinks I'm dead?'_

* * *

Satoshi still wasn't back, as the Demon snidely reminded Shion every morning when she woke up alone at the kitchen table. He was still… still…

Still wherever the Sonozaki family put anybody they killed. Where was that? Maybe he was still alive and they didn't know it… maybe Shion could still save---

Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Shion? Are you in?"

That voice! Where had Shion heard it before? It sounded almost like… almost like… like Satoshi's… Shion gave a yelp of joy and ran to the door----

---- It was only Satoko. "Is Nii Nii here?"

"No, he isn't," Shion said, the last fews drops of hope she had left squeezing out of her heart and falling into the bottomless pit of Shion's stomach. "He… he hasn't been here since..."

"Since my birthday." It wasn't a question. Surprisingly, for once, Satoko did not look as if she were about to cry. "I know. I thought he might be hiding here from m-- from our Uncle."

_'Tell her,' _the Demon cackled. _'Tell her how her brother is probably buried in the forest somewhere, with his fingernails torn out and nails through his digits, his intestines still hanging on a hook in the basement of the Sonozaki house…'_

"He isn't," Shion said slowly, sorely tempted to follow the Demon's instructions. And suddenly, Satoko was… blurred. Everything around her was blurred too. It wasn't until she tasted salt water that Shion realized she was crying again. She wiped furiously at her eyes, not wanting to cry in front of Satoko, who might get the wrong idea and think it was all right cry herself, and make that annoying whine that had been the cause of Satoshi's constant worry.

Satoko closed the door behind herself and patted Shion on the shoulder. "I'll get you a tissue," she said softly.

"Bottom shelf over the microwave," Shion sniffed.

-----

Shion had gone through at least ten tissues before Satoko spoke again.

"You really love my Nii Nii, don't you," she said, patting Shion on the shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Shion swatted Satoko's hand away. "What kind of question is that? Satoshi-kun is… Satoshi-kun is… the most… important…" She started to cry again.

Satoko nodded gravely. "He loves you too, you know. He said so."

"I… I know that! He told me… a lot--"

Satoko tried to pat Shion's shoulder again.

"--- _I said don't touch me_! You don't need to tell me things like that! We… we were going to… he said we'd be married…"

"I know," Satoko sighed. "He told me that too. He said he had to…"

Shion was still crying, but she smiled proudly. "Because he _loves_ me…"

_Or __**loved**__ me,_ she thought.

Satoko nodded, almost as if she'd needed to confirm that fact for herself. "Of course he does, Shion. Of course he does."

"Why are you here, anyway?" Shion asked. "You didn't seem to really think he'd be hiding from you…"

"If he was, Mion wouldn't have told me you were spending all day at your kitchen table making tea and crying yourself to sleep."

"I'm waiting. Satoshi-kun said he'd come home if I had tea waiting for him…"

"I can see that," Satoko said, looking at the five teacups on the table and their lukewarm contents. "But how would Nii Nii feel if he came home and you were like this, crying and almost out of darjeeling? He'd be--"

"Actually, I am _completely_ out of darjeeling," Shion interjected.

"-- _worried_, that's what he'd feel! Nii Nii would come home to you if he could, so clearly whatever he's doing right now is important. When he comes back, isn't he already going to feel guilty about leaving without saying where he was going? He'd-- "

"He won't feel guilty," Shion said to herself. "He can't feel guilty because it's not his fault."

"No, I promise, wherever he is, he feels awful about not being here with you! So go to bed and stop wasting your assets on tea. If he can wait three and a half months --so far-- for a cup of tea, he can damn well wait another five minutes for you to make it after he shows up again."

Shion stared blankly at Satoko. When had this annoying, weak little girl become this bold?

_'Well, she's right--'_

_ 'And that boy is dead anyway--'_

_ 'There's no proof of that! And… and… Satoshi-kun didn't like chamomile too much anyway, and that's the only kind I have left.'_

Satoko gave Shion a stern look. "Well? Aren't you going to get some proper rest so Nii Nii doesn't worry himself sick?"

………………………………………...

"The ironic thing about Hinamizawa Syndrome," Takano said, checking Satoshi's statistics, "Is that you've literally worried yourself sick. Not that I would blame you. Between your pregnant girlfriend--- I _still_ haven't heard anything about the baby being yours, by the way--- and your little sister having no one to protect her anymore, I wouldn't be too surprised if you managed to scratch your throat out even with your vegetative state, the sedatives, _and_ your restraints."

"Major, if he can hear us, you're probably not helping much," Doctor Irie sighed.

"At the rate his brainwaves are fluctuating, it probably doesn't make too much of a difference," Takano pointed out. The two doctors left the room, leaving Satoshi alone with his thoughts. The only sounds he could hear where his own forced, mechanical breathing and the rhythmic beating of the heart monitor. He'd been hearing them so long now that he barely even noticed them anymore, the way a person does not usually notice the sound of their own heartbeat. In fact, they hadn't even seemed strange to him when he first was able to hear again.

_'How long have I been here?' _he wondered. _'It's got to be less than a year less than nine months, if Shion's still pregnant, but it's been a long time…'_

Even less known to Satoshi was how Satoko with coping with his absence and assumed death, or how Shion was dealing with it. She'd been so scared just telling him she was pregnant because she'd thought Satoshi might leave her… now that he had left, what must she be thinking?

_'I've got to wake up,'_ he thought. _'I've got to, I've got to wake up… for my family…'_

--------

"Satoshi-kun," Shion said aloud to the empty room, "It still smells like you in here…"

She grasped the bedsheets in her hands and brought them to her face, then inhaled.

Her voice broke now. "Where are you?"

_'I told you, he's dead!' _The demon laughed. _'That old hag pulled out his fingernails and guts out and dropped him down the well! Should we go check?'_

"He couldn't… he can't be dead! He promised he'd come back… Satoshi-kun would never lie to me!"

She buried her face in Satoshi's pillow as a wretched sob broke free from her body. She inhaled slowly, taking in his scent.

"Where are you, Satoshi-kun?" Shion rolled over onto her back and looked out her window. The moon was a sliver of light in the sky.

"Are you looking at the moon, too? Wherever you are?"

Of course, there was no answer.

"You're alive, aren't you? The demon is only assuming things… r-right?"

The only noise audible was Shion's breathing and her heart thumping. She could feel someone, she wasn't sure who, in the room with her.

"Who's there?"

Only her heartbeat answered. It was starting to hurt now, an ache in her chest.

"Satoshi-kun… or Oyashiro-sama? Is there anyone who can hear me?"

_Thump, thump, thump_… that was her heartbeat, right? It sounded almost like footsteps coming down the hall. It was louder with every throb, starting to hurt in her chest now.

"Can you… give me a sign? Can you prove to me that Satoshi-kun is coming back? He's alive, isn't he? Isn't he? He's coming back to me, right?"

Something moved inside of Shion. Pounding on the the inside of her stomach, trying to get out… pounding…

No,

Kicking.

It was kicking her.

Shion realized what it was and gasped. Her hands flew to her stomach.

"Satoshi-kun's baby!"

_'And how are my two favorite people today?' _Satoshi's voice echoed in her head.

Of course he'd come back! He'd want to see the baby, wouldn't he?

The baby kicked again, and Shion rubbed her belly.

"It's okay," she whispered, "Daddy will come back. Probably in time to be there when you're born…"

A wide smile broke out on Shion's face.

………………………………..

The next few months were a flurry of preparations for Shion: books on nutrition and baby development, classes on childcare, vitamins, a stroller, a crib, a high chair, and a triple shift at Cafe Angel Morte to pay for it all. Of course, by the time Shion was six months pregnant, not even the largest of the tiny black uniforms would go over her swollen belly. She switched to working in the kitchen making ice cream sundaes, which didn't pay as well but also didn't require her to stand, something she soon found she was grateful for.

Eight months into the pregnancy, Satoshi still wasn't back.

"But he will be," she promised the baby growing in her, who kicked as if responding to her statement.

"You can hear me, can't you!" Shion giggled. "You can probably understand part of it, too, huh? I only hope you can recognize your daddy's voice too, when he comes back. He's going to be so proud of us for waiting for him… it'll be soon, you know. He's going to be there when you come, so he can see you. And you're coming in a month…"

The baby kicked again. Shion kissed her index fingers and placed them on her belly.

"I can't wait. We're going to be a _family_…a family with Satoshi-kun..."

…………………

"Major Takano, we need to talk," Doctor Irie sighed, pulling out a chair for the blonde woman, "About Satoshi."

"What is it, Doctor?" Takano asked coyly, taking the seat offered. "Have you made a breakthrough?" Her eyes shined with a twisted version of hope.

Irie shook his head. "No, but we're never going to if you keep talking to the boy the way you have been…" He took off his glasses as if to clean them, but only fiddled with them nervously.

"What's wrong with what I've told him?" the woman chuckled. "I've only been keeping him up to date with his friends…"

"You haven't said anything that he would want to know," Irie said, glaring. "Hinamizawa Syndrome, as you are aware of, is as much a mental disease as it is a viral one. If anything, I think your talking to him is what's lead to his condition worsening."

"So he responds to emotional stimuli? _Interesting_…" Takano made a note on her clipboard.

"We're not going to be able to cure him if you keep this up," Irie said. He took out a square of cloth and wiped the glasses nervously. "I think you should stop and see how his condition changes-- it'll probably improve."

"You think I should stop talking to him?"

"Yes."

Takano smirked. "We'll see if that works, then…"

……………………………………………….

They'd stopped mentioning the baby to him. Why? Had Shion had the baby, or told them it was his? How was Shion? Did she think he was dead, too? She probably did…

The only time anyone addressed Satoshi was when Doctor Irie said, "Good morning," or "Good afternoon" or "Good evening," while he checked Satoshi's statistics. After that, the Doctor only talked to Takano in hushed tones. Satoshi could only hear little pieces of their conversations.

"… bit more in the solution…"

"… -ition worsening…"

"… starve him? Please, Takano! Put more proteins in the solu… "

Why weren't they talking to him anymore? Was he so sick now that they thought he wouldn't be able to hear him?

Or was it for his own good? If something had happened to Satoko… or to Shion, or the baby… That was it. Something awful must have happened. And whatever it was, it had to be all Satoshi's fault…

Something was crawling under his skin. The maggots were back, try to get out… and Satoshi couldn't even move to scratch the itch.

* * *

Shion was at school when it happened. Specifically, she was taking a pre-calculus test when it happened, and was stuck on a particularly difficult problem.

First, the baby kicked. Shion smiled despite her mental strain and placed a hand where the blow to her uterus had been, caressing the place gently with her thumb.

_'Any time now…'_ she thought to herself. _'Actually, if the baby came right now, maybe they wouldn't make me finish the test.'_

Shion giggled, but then it wasn't funny, because something collapsed inside her and she gasped and suddenly she was sitting in a liquid that was foreign to her and there was pain and goodness it_ hurt_.

The teacher looked up slowly from the paper he was grading at his desk. "Is something the matter, Miss Sonozaki? Or can your classmates finish their tests in peace?"

"I… I need to go…" was all Shion could manage to say before she half-ran, half-tumbled out the door and straight to where Kasai was waiting in case of a situation such as this one. She felt a little bad for whoever had to clean the fluid off of her chair, but not enough to really care as she had other things on her mind.

Upon seeing Shion standing at the door of the attendance office, gasping for air, Kasai slammed his copy of _The Lord of the Flies _shut and carried Shion out to the car before flooring the gas pedal and taking off.

"He's coming…" Shion gasped, "He's coming, Kasai…"

"_He?_" Kasai smirked. "I thought you said the ultrasound and the karyotype pointed to the baby being a girl."

Shion smacked him, and Kasai swerved a little on the road.

"I… mean… Satoshi-kun!" Shion said, kicking her feet to try to stave off the pain. "Satoshi-kun's going to come back to see the baby!"

"Ah." Kasai said. "Is that why you want to have the baby at the Irie Clinic instead of a hospital?" his tone was disapproving.

But if it's important to a girl in labor, it happens.

"M-maybe he'll already be waiting at the clinic for me, Kasai… do you think he's waiting for me at the clinic?"

Kasai wasn't sure what to say, so he made a sort of grunting noise that could be taken as a "yes" or as a "no".

"You're right! He will be there! For our baby…" Shion beamed for a moment before wincing magnificently and groaning.

"Unless of course the baby comes out right now in my car before we get there."

"Kasai, that isn't funny!" Shion grunted. "You will never know how much this hurts!"

"From what I understand, the part that hurts comes a little later," Kasai chuckled. "Like when there's a screaming baby's head sticking out of your---"

Shion smacked him again. Kasai, expecting this, did not swerve this time.

The ex-yakuza screeched into the Irie Clinic parking lot and carried Shion-- ironically, in the same position she would soon find herself carrying the baby in-- inside. A very nervous looking Doctor Irie ("It's been over a year since I last delivered a baby,") rushed them to a small room that had already been prepared.

Takano asked Shion if she should to call anyone, like the father of the baby.

"N-No, just… the school… get my sister."

The nurse smirked. "Not your parents either, then?"

Shion paused and thought about this for a moment, only breaking her train of thought when a particularly painful contraction occurred somewhere in her body.

She screamed and then thought about it again.

"Only if… only if they want to be here."

"And your grandmother?"

"_**No**__._"

"All right then." Takano left the room.

* * *

Mion all but flew into the clinic. She passed Takano on the way, who pointed her to the room where her sister was, and then kept running.

Her sneakers made skid marks on the linoleum floor.

"Sis!" Shion breathed. "Is… is Satoshi-kun with you?"

Mion could only shake her head. Was Shion still under the illusion that he would be back? Satoshi had truly, deeply cared about Shion, which was why it was so terrible that wherever he was, he probably wasn't alive. He would have come back by now, at least out of guilt, if he could. Maybe his uncle...

Mion's train of thought was broken by her sister screaming.

_'Well,'_ she thought, _'Someone's got to be there for her…'_

………………………..

Four hours later, Shion was still having difficulties. Doctor Irie said something about a complication in the baby's position, but all Shion really understood was that she was in pain. She hadn't read much about delivery problems-- she'd been more focused on learning how to change diapers.

And the father of the child hadn't shown up yet.

"Satoshi-kun, if you don't hurry, you're going to miss the whole thing," Shion panted, speaking to no one in particular. "You w-won't have as strong an attachment to the baby if you're not there when she comes out…" She'd read that in a book somewhere.

"Satoshi-kun, where are you? I… I know you're coming…"

"Maybe he's caught up in traffic," Takano suggested. Shion asked Kasai to slap her.

"Takano," Irie said quickly, "Could you check on the _other patients--_?" He gave Takano a look that said something beyond the meaning of his words.

"It won't make a difference," Takano giggled, "But I'll check...."

* * *

Satoshi heard high heels clicking on the linoleum. They grew closer, then stopped.

"… No," Takano said to him, "You're still sick. Now if you'll excuse me…"

And she left.

_'What was that all about?' _Satoshi wondered.

* * *

"Satoshi-kun, _where are you?_" Shion gasped, trying to sit up.

"Don't do that!" Irie said as Takano pushed the teenaged mother back down onto the gurney, "You're going to compromise the baby! Just calm down and breathe--"

"_Where's Satoshi-kun?_" Shion asked for the hundredth time.

"He's… he's not here, Shion," Mion said slowly, giving her sister's hand a squeeze. "I don't think---"

Someone opened the door to the small, already-crowded (containing Doctor Irie, Takano, Mion, Shion and soon the baby) and stepped inside. Shion couldn't see who it was, but she heard their footsteps growing closer.

"Is--- is that---"

A small hand landed on her shoulder. "I'm not him, Shion-san. I'm sorry."

"Satoko!" Shion gritted her teeth and glared and the girl. "How many times do I have to tell you not to touch me? Why are you here?"

She slapped Satoko's hand away, using all of her mental strength to will the blonde girl out of the room. Satoko only sighed and took the hand used to strike her and looked Shion directly in the eyes.

"Wherever Nii Nii is, I know he'd give anything to be here right now," Satoko said carefully.

"Why are you _here?_" Shion repeated angrily. She tried to free her hand, but Satoko's grip was firm.

"Because Nii Nii can't be," Satoko said. "Somebody should be."

"Somebody is!" Shion threw her free hand in Mion's direction. "Now… now get out! Leave!"

Satoko paid no attention to this comment and leaned over towards the girl on the gurney. Her free hand came around to the top of Shion's head.

"If Nii Nii were here now, do you know what he'd say?"

"He'd say, _'let go of my girlfriend!'_" Shion said, struggling to get away.

"Maybe," Satoko said. "But he'd also say, _'Take a deep breath and try to calm down.' _"

Shion stared at Satoko incredulously.

Satoko only said, "Nii Nii would tell you,_'The baby is almost here, Shion. I'm a little nervous…' _"

'_What is Satoko doing?'_ the demon sneered._ 'Is she trying to be Satoshi-kun? She'll never be Satoshi-kun. She will only ever be Satoko, so whatever she's trying to do is pointless…'_

"… S-stop this! Stop talking, let go of me!"

But Satoko only pressed forward. "_'… But I'm excited, too. I'm so proud____of you, Shion.''_"

Shion's eyes widened, and she stopped struggling. "W-what…?"

Satoko smiled, and in that moment she looked almost exactly like her brother. "_'Shion, we're going to be a _family_. It's been such a long time since I've had a real family, since my mother kept getting remarried... _"

_'That __**is**__ what Satoshi-kun would say,' _Shion realized.

" _'Everything's going to be okay, Shion. I'm going to come back soon, so I can meet the baby, so… calm down a little…' _"

Satoko patted the top of Shion's head.

"_ 'Everything's going to be all right…'_ " Satoko let go of Shion's hand and took a step back.

"That's what Nii Nii would say, Shion. I know he wants to be here, but he can't, so you need to go ahead and have the baby for him, all right?"

Shion nodded. "For Satoshi-kun…"

She laid her head back on the pillow and focused on the task at hand.

Doctor Irie gasped. "I can see the head...! Just a little longer, Shion. Push!"

………………..

Satoshi had heard that his room-- that is, the room he was in-- was supposed to be soundproof both ways. That way, he couldn't hear doctors discussing his condition elsewhere, and if he woke up and started screaming, other patients wouldn't hear----

'_No one can hear you scream,' _Takano had chuckled once. The long silence afterwards, followed by '_What? I was kidding', _had led to Satoshi's assumption that Doctor Irie had glared at her.

---- Anyway, Satoshi shouldn't have been able to hear a single sound from outside his room. Nothing at all, from the footsteps of Doctor Irie approaching to Takano suggesting Satoshi be dissected (and Doctor Irie had told him she wanted to) to the scream which Satoshi heard now.

It came from somewhere above him. Was there someone on the roof, or was Satoshi in some secret, basement level of the clinic, below the ground?

It wasn't a tortured scream, more of a… frustrated one. Why could Satoshi hear it? Was it just too loud for the insulation to block it all way the way? It sounded familiar, too, like the screamer was someone Satoshi knew personally.

The scream sounded again, louder this time. What was going _on _up there? Was whoever it was restrained at the wrists and ankles like Satoshi was, and trying to get out? Maybe they were pushing or pulling something heavy?

It came again, and again, for what must have been at least half an hour. Whatever it was they were pushing clearly didn't want to move from its spot at all.

And, as unexpectedly as they had began, the screams stopped. Now came another sound. Much quieter than the sounds that had come before… it sounded almost like a baby crying.

* * *

"It's a girl, Shion." Doctor Irie held up a slimy, screaming, naked newborn. "Congratulations."

Even before her first bath, she was beautiful. The Doctor cut the umbilical chord and whisked the baby away to clean and measure her.

"I did it…" Shion whispered. "I did it, Satoshi-kun. Our baby is here… come quickly and see..."

Satoko reached over and patted the top of Shion's head. "Wherever he is, Nii Nii is proud of you," she promised.

"Do you really think so?"

"I do." Satoko paused then, as if she had something to say, but wasn't sure if she should say it.

"I'm… I'm going to be a good aunt," she said finally. "Not like… my aunt. Since Nii Nii isn't here to help you with the baby, I'm going to do it for him. I owe him anyway..."

"You don't need to do that," Shion said quickly. _'I don't want her near my baby,' _she thought. _'Satoko could only whine and complain…'_

"But I do," Satoko said. "Nii Nii went out of his way to take care of me when he shouldn't have had to, so I'm going to return the favor. I'm stronger now, so when Nii Nii comes back, he'll smile and say he's proud of both of us…"

Then again, Satoko had done a few things that didn't involve whining. Maybe Shion would let her hold Satoshi's baby once or twice. Maybe three times. Maybe.

Doctor Irie re-entered the room, holding the baby.

"She's perfectly healthy," he said brightly, "Weighs three-point-two kilograms, forty-eight centimeters long. Do you want to hold her?"

Shion held her arms out. "What kind of question is that? Give me my baby!"

The baby. Satoshi's baby. She was so small… fast asleep, curled up in Shion's arms. Shion gently smoothed down the shock of yellow hair growing out of her daughter's head.

Shion was in awe. "Satoshi-kun… I wish you could see. Your baby looks just like you..."

"Really?" Satoko giggled, looking down at the sleeping face. "I was just thinking she looked a little like Mr. Spock…"

"She does not."

"She does so. Look at that serious expression..."

"All babies make that face when they're sleeping."

"Uh huh." Satoko grinned. "Are we saying Mr. Spock has a baby's face?"

"I'm saying that my baby does not look like Spock," Shion repeated. She didn't really mind Satoko's teasing. She placed more importance on what she was holding.

"She really does look like Nii Nii," Satoko whispered.

The door slammed open. Sonozaki Oryou paced into the room, livid.

"You had the Houjo's offspring?" Oryou's voice was dangerously quiet, laced carefully with poison. "Why?"

Shion carefully shifted the baby closer. "Because, I love--"

The baby started to cry. Shion pulled the blanket over herself and tried to figure out the mechanics of breatfeeding under her grandmother's glare.

"I expect you'll be giving it up for adoption, then."

"No!" Shion looked up. "I'm keeping this baby!"

"How will you feed it? Don't expect any financial aid from the Sonozaki family."

"I have a job!" Shion hissed. "Stay away from my family!"

"Family? All I see here is a teenaged girl with a child she could not possibly care for and the father nowhere to be found."

Shion was yelling now. "He's… he's going to come back!"

"A likely story. If he didn't come back in the past nine months, why should he come back now?"

"B-Because I have this baby! Satoshi-kun will definitely come to see our daughter… soon… very soon..."

"I wonder how long you'll hold to that delusion," Oryou spat. "You're better off turning the child over to welfare now. Give her here."

She held out her arms-- cold, wrinkled arms that held no warmth.

"No! You're not going to take my baby!" Shion squeezed the newborn as tightly as she dared. "Her father will be back soon, so just _leave us alone!_"

"I cannot allow you to do that. Keeping that… thing will only bring down the family name."

"She isn't a thing! She's a living human being!"

"She's a _Houjo_, albeit a small one. She may have not done anything yet, but she will eventually if we let her stay in this village too long."

"She won't! She's… she's half Sonozaki too! Shouldn't that be enough?"

"I hardly think you even count as a Sonozaki anymore, Shion. But, since people still associate you with us, you'll have to let go of _that_." She pointed in the baby's direction. "It's better off that way in the first place."

"Satoshi-kun really will come back for us!" Shion insisted. She realized she was blinking back tears. "And I can take care of my baby even if he doesn't!"

"We'll see about that…" Oryou thought. "Very well. I'll let you keep it for awhile."

"That--- that isn't for you to decide...!"

… Yet, Shion was relieved beyond words. "I… I can keep my baby without you trying to take her away from me?"

"For awhile," Oryou said sharply. "If the father of the child does not return in three months, I will take her somewhere better for her whether you will it or not."

And then she was gone, leaving Shion steeped in worries.

"Don't worry, baby, Satoshi-kun… Satoshi-kun will definitely come to see you…"

So she hoped.

…………………….

_The morning is just a few hours away_

_But I've got to creep down the alleyway_

_Fly down the highway_

_Before they come to catch me, _

_I'll be gone_

_Somewhere they can't find me…_

* * *

(authornotes)

Yes, yes I know, I took much too long writing this. I've been busy…

Just for the record, I did my research. The baby is a normal healthy height and weight ^^

I've been sort of obsessed with babies recently, unfortunately. I apologize.

Well… if you're not too mad or still care about this fic at all, tell me what you thought of it?


	6. My Baby

After her grandmother's threat, the other people in Shion's hospital room trickled out slowly. Soon, she was alone with the baby.

Satoshi's baby.

Satoshi's beautiful baby. Sound asleep in her arms, snoring softly.

"I'm going to take such good care of you," Shion whispered. "You're going to be the happiest baby in Okinomiya. Do you know why?"

The baby snorted in her sleep and curled closer to Shion.

"Because I love you, and I your daddy, more than anyone in Okinomiya loves anyone else. More than anybody in the world loves anybody else. And your daddy will come back soon, so he can smile, and tell me how proud he is of me… "

Shion shifted her grip of the sleeping child to one arm and used the other to pat the baby's head. "And he'll do this… when your Daddy pats people on the head, they can do anything. It's magic."

She smiled at the baby and stroked her soft, short hair. "But I'm going to take such good care of you, I'm going to be so responsible with you, that even if Satoshi-kun doesn't come back in time, that scary old hag will leave us alone. I'm going to make sure you're safe from her, always."

The green-haired girl, now a mother, kissed the baby on the top of the head and drifted off to sleep.

……………….

"That baby is going to get Hinamizawa Syndrome," Doctor Irie thought aloud.

Which was, in theory, probably not a problem. Babies had been born in Hinamizawa before and had been safe. They must have been, because Hinamizawa had a healthy population of adults. It wouldn't be long before the baby had one of those viruses in her brain--- there was a high chance that she already did. That didn't necessarily mean she'd ever even reach Level Two.

"But it's going to be hard for her," The Doctor mused to the empty room. "With only one parent… it might be stressful for her. Not to mention, for Shion raising a baby all by herself…"

Irie gritted his teeth and went back to his research. "I've got to cure Satoshi no matter what…!"

…………………

"Come on, smile for the camera," Mion giggled, holding the baby up.

"She probably won't be able to do that for a month or two," Shion said, "So you'll have to make do."

"Get Shion in the picture," Satoko suggested, holding up the camera, "She seems to be smiling enough for herself and the baby. And hurry, my arms are getting tired."

"All right." The requested adjustments were made, and the camera flashed.

"You don't need to take pictures every time you come over, Satoko," said Shion. "It's not like I would forget this little girl…"

"She won't be little forever. And won't Nii Nii want to see them when he comes back? Even if it was as soon as next week, she'll be bigger…" Satoko smiled and held the camera close.

Shion nodded. "And if he comes back closer to the deadline, she'll be even different from now than that… could you take a few more pictures before you go?"

No one dared to say what would happen if Satoshi didn't come back by the deadline at all because Shion and Satoko refused to recognize the possibility of losing the baby. This was all of him they had left… how could they lose her, too?

………………………….…

Satoshi didn't know how long it had been since he'd been spoken to directly. Doctor Irie still checked up on him every day, but all Satoshi heard were mutterings. The only human contact Satoshi received was when he was washed.

He was beginning to feel as if he was invisible. Did they only care about Satoshi's disease?

Takano had been asking to perform some "tests" that Doctor Irie vehemently opposed. Satoshi didn't know what they were, but he was afraid.

He was always afraid.

………………………………………………..

"Quick Satoko, get the camera!" Shion called across the apartment. "She's smiling!"

Satoko laughed. "I'm coming, Shion! Calm down!"

It had almost been three months since the baby was born. To Shion and Satoko's minds, this meant that Satoshi would be back any day-- any minute now. Satoko was as excited as ever about documenting every development, movement and dirty diaper that the baby had, and had taken numerous photographs of the child. She'd even borrowed a video camera from Rika's house, where she'd been staying a few months now; they had almost filled up the third videotape.

"Smile for the camera," Satoko giggled. "Oh, that's so cute!"

"Are you gonna take her home?" Shion asked.

"No, but I bet Rena would have kidnapped her by now if she knew."

(It just wasn't fair that just anyone could find out about the baby when Satoshi wasn't even back yet, so they hadn't told many people).

The baby giggled and squirmed a bit in Shion's arms.

"Do you want me to put you down, darling?" The child was placed on a small blanket over the carpet. "There, much better!"

"Maybe you should pick her up," Satoko ventured.

"Why? She looks happy down there," said Shion.

"Because Nii Nii's coming back soon," Satoko reminded her, "And wouldn't it be great if when he came in, you were holding the baby for him?"

Shion smiled. "No, because if Satoshi-kun comes back while I'm holding anything, I might drop it… I'll be to happy to remember anything else."

"And you can hug him better that way, right?" Satoko giggled.

"Maybe a little more than hugging… he's been gone so long, you know, I think he owes me a kiss or two… if it's more than that, we should wait until the baby's asleep…" Shion said in a sing-song voice, hugging herself. "There are some things that children shouldn't see, right?"

"Right," Satoko coughed. "Maybe you should wait until I've gone to sleep, too."

Both girls laughed at this, and Satoko sat down on the couch to hug Shion.

"Don't touch me," Shion said half-heartedly.

Satoko only tightened her grip. "When Nii Nii comes back, do you think you'll get married?"

"He… Satoshi-kun said…" Shion blushed. "Satoshi-kun said that was probably what we should do."

"If you marry my Nii Nii, does that make you my Nee Nee?"

Shion looked away, to hide the wide smile fixed on her face.

"Satoko, you're already twelve. Isn't that a bit old to still be using those nicknames?"

"No, Shion," Satoko said. "I called Nii Nii that when he and I still had a happy family. I want him to remember that I wasn't always… wasn't always..."

"Causing him trouble?" Shion asked.

"Yes."

"I think you've made up for that, Satoko, for now. In the end, he wanted you to be happy, right? He worked hard for that…"

"He worked too hard for it," Satoko mumbled.

"Maybe. But we're both living happily now, so won't Satoshi-kun be so glad to see us?"

It was Satoko's turn to smile. "He will, won't he!"

………………………….…

Satoshi wondered if he even counted as a person anymore.

He was trapped in this place. Frozen. Everything else around him-- Doctor Irie, the nurse, whoever it was who washed him-- moved, but Satoshi was still. Suspended, almost in a separate world, where he listened to everything but could say nothing, make no movement in response. The only thing that changed was his heart rate, and even that was normally steady. Like a machine.

Is that what Satoshi was now? A machine? All he did was breathe. The IV fluid, like fuel, dripped into him and another tube removed waste… wasn't that basically how machines worked? If he wasn't human anymore, it would certainly explain his lack of human contact.

Somewhere, Shion and Satoko were moving, too, just like the people in the clinic -- unless they were dead. They could be, for all he knew. It wouldn't be unlike Doctor Irie to not tell him about something like that. After all, he'd kept Satoshi's location a secret from them, so why should he tell Satoshi what the people close to him were up to?

And the baby. What about the baby? Satoshi didn't know. He didn't know anything. If something had happened to the baby, it was his fault.

His fault because he wasn't there to help. If they needed help.

And knowing the way things tended to work for Satoshi, they probably did.

………………………….…

It was the day of the deadline, and Sonozaki Oryou was not amused.

Her granddaughter and great-granddaughter, however, were of another disposition.

"He'll be here any minute, just you wait!" Shion smiled widely, proudly. She held her baby-- no, _that Houjo's_ baby-- closer to herself and grinned at it.

And the baby was cooing happily-- laughing, even.

Did these two not understand the reality before them?

"I told you, you had three months before Houjo Satoshi came back or I would take the child," Oryou snapped. "Now give it here or I'll have to use force."

"My baby isn't an '_it'_," Shion giggled, "She's a '_she_'. She even has a name, you know--"

"All Houjos are '_it'_s." Oryou said bitterly. "Now let me take it someplace more befitting of its standing as a bastard child."

"Satoshi-kun said he's marry me, so I don't think our baby is illegitimate," Shion said brightly. "Kindly leave me alone with my family?"

"_I_ am your family! Have you forgotten? As a member of the Sonozaki house, you have a certain responsibility not to _drag our name in the mud_. Keeping this child does just that! I gave you three months, Shion, but the Houjo boy is long gone and we both know it. Now give me that brat and maybe, maybe we will be able to fix the family reputation."

"The family reputation?" Shion said slowly. The gleam in her eyes was a rebellious one. Would this child ever learn?

"I couldn't care much less about the family reputation," Shion said slowly. "All that's mean to me so far is being shut away, isn't it? And when I got away from that, I ended up being tortured…"

Oryou's lungs were already burning from the effort it took to walk up the stairs to Shion's apartment, and now she was beginning to feel the added discomfort of a building headache. "Distinction is not torture. It's a consequence for foolish actions," She reminded Shion.

If only Shion knew how lenient Oryou was being with her. How many times had Oryou had to distinguish herself as a young girl? She could clearly remember a time when she thought her fingernails would never grow back, and the back of her mouth would always be in pain… well, at least Oryou had never again worried about tonsil infection, and she'd discovered she could stick her tongue out farther than anyone else she knew--

Of course, that was in the past. The old ways were best, but when things were old parts of them would be rotten…

Maybe Oryou was getting soft in her old age. However, she could not allow this disgusting cross between the Sonozaki and Houjo families to be near any longer...

"Give it here, Shion."

Shion shook her head. "I can't do that. Satoshi-kun will be here any second now, to hold me and the baby and tell me how proud of us he is… Satoshi-kun will come back before you take this baby. Because he's amazing..."

"If he hasn't come back in the past _year_, why should he come back now?" Oryou sneered. It amazed her how delusional her granddaughter had become. "Give that… offspring to me and you can return to a normal life as a girl. Move on from that boy, Shion. Waiting for him like this is going nowhere, so stop telling yourself he's going to come back."

"Satoshi-kun is really coming back!" Shion said stubbornly. "Today! I just know it! I bet he's back already, but went to find Satoko first to give her that birthday present!"

"You're lying to yourself, girl. We both know how low the chances are of that boy still being alive."

Something changed on Shion's face. "I think _you_ know exactly how low the chances are of his being alive." She held the baby in her arms tighter, closer to herself and looked Oryou in the eye.

"Satoshi-kun must have gone to get something, to do something important… but _you_ followed him, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Oryou growled. Now _she_, the head of the Sonozaki family was being blamed?

"You followed him because you didn't like him living together with me," Shion said darkly. "So you made sure he wouldn't come back…"

"I did nothing of the sort!"

"It doesn't matter!" Shion laughed. "Even if you kill him, Satoshi-kun will still come back to me! Because Satoshi-kun and I are lovers there is no way he could do anything else but return and stay with me… no matter how many times you kill him! D… Death cannot stop true love!"

Oryou sighed impatiently. "Shion, the more you tell yourself things like this, the harder it will be for you when your crazed illusions come crashing down on you. If you're so sure this boy is going to return to you, why don't you give me the child and see if he comes before I leave with it?"

"Now you're trying to trick me," Shion giggled. "What could a little old lady like you do to take away this baby? If it came to a struggle, I'm a lot stronger than you are..."

Oryou could sense the beginnings of uncertainty in Shion's voice. Was she finally realizing reality?

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, Shion," she sighed.

"Come to _what_, hag?" Shion asked. She was holding her infant completely against herself, so only the baby's blanket and the top of her head were visible.

"Using force to extract you from that thing."

The head of the Sonozaki house snapped her fingers, and two of her bodyguards-- two of her strongest bodyguards, came in through the door.

Shion's eyes widened. "You wouldn't…"

"We had an agreement, Shion. Three months." Oryou smirked. Had Shion really thought she could defy her? "Time's up."

"No!" Shion yelled. She turned away from the men-- hiding the baby from their view.

"Take it from her," Oryou sighed. "There doesn't seem to be any other way."

The men nodded and began to advance.

"You can't do this!" Shion gasped. "You can't! This… this is _my_ baby, hag! I… can I do what with my own child! You… _you have no power over me!_"

"I think you're about to find otherwise," Oryou remarked. One of the men grabbed Shion by the shoulders, and the other was trying to pry Shion's arms from the sleeping baby.

Shion clung to the child tighter. "No! No, you… you can't--- this is about my distinction, isn't it? Because I tried to run away! I'll do it again, I'll do it properly this time… as m-many fingernails as it takes… and toenails if I run out…"

"This is not an issue that can be decided with a few measly fingernails," said Oryou. She turned her attention to the bodyguards. "And you two! You're being too gentle. Get that thing away from my granddaughter so she can come back to her senses--- I don't care if you injure it."

Shion squeezed her offspring closer still. "You can't hurt my baby! Y-You can't _have_ my baby!"

"I think you'll find that I can," Oryou commented. "If you don't let go of it soon, it may be fatally injured."

"You'd kill my baby?!?"

"If it would bring you back to your right mind. I'm trying to avoid it. Now let go."

"NO! I CAN'T---"

Just then, the baby started to cry. The men froze, and Shion only stared at her.

"Are you hungry?" She asked the baby. "Or… did you wake up from all the noise? Don't worry, Mommy's here… Mommy will keep you safe…"

"Your attachment to that thing is only going to hurt you," Oryou said. "Now give it over."

"I think I've already given you my answer to that request," Shion hissed. "Now leave me and my baby alone."

"That was not a request."

"I know." Shion glared at Oryou, then softened her expression as she looked at the screaming child in her arms.

"You _are_ hungry, aren't you…" Without warning, Shion turned her back towards Oryou and continued talking to the baby in a reassuring voice. "Mommy's here… don't worry…"

The crying stopped, which Oryou assumed meant that Shion was breastfeeding.

"Shhh… Mommy's here..."

Oryou glared at the still-frozen men. "What are you doing? Take that thing and let's get out of here!"

The men blinked and reached out for Shion…

"Let me finish feeding her first," she said quietly. "Please, at least let me do that. Let me be her mother for just a few more moments…"

Shion was hunched over, curled around her baby. Shaking. Probably starting to cry.

"I've been far too lenient with you already…" Oryou said. "Feed it quickly."

Shion held her baby close. "My poor, sweet baby… I love you. When… when your daddy comes back, they'll be sorry. They'll wish they'd let me keep you so we could raise you… you'll… you'll remember me, won't you? Wherever you end up, you won't forget your mommy, will you?"

Of course, the baby didn't say anything, but Oryou said, "She won't. Babies rarely do when they're separated this young. It's better this way."

"Shut up," Shion said. "You don't know anything about my baby. Can we… can I have a moment alone with her?"

"I can't risk you trying to escape," Oryou snapped. "I don't want to deal with your mother or your sister after I've given you the proper consequence for it."

"I hate you," whispered Shion. "I will never, never forget what you've done to me… to my baby…" She was rocking the infant back and forth, holding her as tightly as she dared. The tears were running down Shion's face now, being soaked up by the collar of her sweater.

"My _beautiful_ baby…"

"From the looks of it, that child is done eating," Oryou said. "Give it up."

Shion held the baby a moment longer, then held it out to one of the bodyguards, who took it.

"Don't let_ that woman_ touch her," Shion said, jerking her head at Oryou, who grit her teeth. After everything she'd done for Shion, how could she remain so insolent? She was lucky to be alive.

The man nodded slowly, then began to leave Shion's apartment. Just before he reached the door, the baby made the worst noise she could have possible made at that moment:

"Muu…"

Shion's eyes widened and she froze in place--- even the teardrops on her face seemed to stop moving.

"Satoshi-kun…"

"This is why you need rid of the child," Oryou started to say,"It will only remind you of the Hou--"

Something broke across Shion's face, a mixture of fear and epiphany.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!" She screamed, lunging after the bodyguard holding the infant. "GIVE HER BACK!"

The other bodyguard quickly restrained Shion, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her away.

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE SATOSHI-KUN'S BABY FROM ME! IF… IF YOU DO THAT… HOW CAN SATOSHI-KUN COME BACK?" Shion cried, struggling to get away. "I NEED MY BABY!"

"He isn't going to come back in the first place," Oryou said. "Give up, Child."

"NO! I NEED THE BABY TO STAY WITH ME! SO SATOSHI-KUN CAN COME BACK QUICKLY TO SEE HER… HE'LL BE HERE ANY MINUTE! JUST WAIT! HE'LL COME BACK AND HE'LL SEE THE BABY AND YOU CAN GIVE ME THE BABY BACK THEN--"

Oryou gave a curt nod to the guard restraining Shion, and he used one hand to squeeze the back of her neck. She fell over, limp, and Oryou left with the two men in her employ, one of them carrying the baby.

…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..…………..

WOW, THAT TOOK FOREVER D:

I apologize. I really do.

You'll notice (or maybe you won't) the lack of song lyrics and the lack of exceedingly obvious 80s references-- but there are two of them. And one other one which is not from the 80s but was absolutely necessary. It's a reference to a popular animated film.

… There still aren't any prizes for finding them, though.

Also, "damn." I just reread chapter 5 and I feel astonished with myself for making Satoko say "damn".

She's like twelve. I didn't say "damn" till I was fourteen.

I feel sort of awful.

… Tell me, how am I driving?


End file.
